Harry Potter and the Swarm
by Beyogi
Summary: Harry is fed up with watching memories about Voldemort in Dumbledores pensieve. Watching movies in holographic quality doesn't help him survive whatever the Dark Lord has planned next. Looking for help, Harry stumbles into the Room of Requirement, finding a mysterious book about summoning rituals... The Zerg are a mighty help indeed, but this help doesn't come cheap. Please R&R.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer:__ Elements of this story are copyrighted by other parties. Sadly, I neither own Blizzard Entertainment nor am I J. K. Rowling (I wouldn't want to be her age though;)_

_I neither own Harry Potter nor the Starcraft Universe._

_The premise of this story has been somewhat inspired by Familiar of Zero._

_Further Inspiration has been the story "Herald of the Void" by "Nim Maj" and "The Zerg Swarm" by East Bridge._

_Thanks to Janet for betaing.  
_

_Warning:__ This story will contain elements of transhumanism._

* * *

**Harry Potter and the Swarm**

**Part 1: **

**Somewhere in an unknown future on a world far away**

The drone was confused; a blue glowing oval had appeared in front of it. It nervously flapped its wings, waiting for directions from the broodqueen. It didn't feel fear, its mind was not constructed in such a way to feel threatened by strange events. It wasn't its place to decide. It only had to register the event and the swarm would decide.

The drone didn't have to wait for long. It was the closest member of the swarm and the broodqueen ordered it to investigate. Hovering forward, the drone touched the oval with its pincer. The creature was surprised, when it actually entered the strange substance. Feeling no real resistance from the alien thing, the drone tried to pull back, but it couldn't. Just as it wanted to go back, the oval developed a suction. Screeching with indignation the drone was pulled into the oval. It tried to fight, although those attempts proved futile. When its head entered its connection to the swarm was separated and everything went black for the drone.

* * *

**9pm on a Monday in mid-October ****1996****. **

'What was wrong with Dumbledore,' Harry wondered. He really didn't need to watch Voldemorts ascent as a dark lord in a pensieve. Hell, why didn't Dumbledore train him? After the events in the ministry of magic it should have been obvious to the last idiot that Voldemort wanted him dead and also that he didn't stand a chance against the bastard.

Bastard... what a joke. In Voldemorts case that insult was actually truth, well sort of. Not that Harry could really blame the father for fleeing. Who wouldn't after being held under a mind control potion? It wasn't that he didn't appreciate to know how things could actually happen this way, but he had bigger problems, he really needed to get better. He needed a weapon against Voldemort, against Draco's intrigues, against the madness of the wizarding world.

Although Draco had almost killed one of his chasers, apparently McGonagall didn't care. 'She couldn't prove anything, yada yada... She didn't try to prove anything! As rich as the ponce was he'd probably used a hired goon,' Harry mentally ranted. He knew the arrogant ass had something to do with it. He even had a perfect alibi!

How could they just dismiss the possibility? Draco was a Death Eater's child. Merlin, the boy had ranted about Voldemort's greatness even before the bastard had returned. Still, nobody could be bothered to check for a dark mark! Even his friends didn't want to believe him. The fact Malfoy always had a big mouth now worked to his advantage. Nobody believed anymore that the ponce would do anything except for talking great. What a truly slytherin plot.

There had to be a simple solution. That was what magic was, after all. A simple solution for very complex problems. He just had to find the right spell, the right potion or the right curse. It always was that way. Magic somehow did the impossible.

The problem was that he had to know the means and it didn't look like Dumbledore was going to help him there. Maybe the old man had a good reason for what he did, he wasn't the leader of the light for nothing, but Harry felt it wasn't enough. He needed to help himself. Until now he'd survived Voldemort on pure luck. Harry wasn't deluding himself, by all rights he should be dead. Voldemort was sixty years his senior, one of the most powerful wizards of the world and his mother's protection was gone. There had to be something he could do, Harry didn't intend to become a martyr after all.

Deep in thought, Harry wasn't looking where he was going and stumbled over an armor. Seeing the stretched leg, he had to acknowledge that this one had tripped him. Armors weren't supposed to do that. If he'd get the prankster who enchanted it... As he glared back at the stupid thing, Harry's gaze fell on the picture of Barnabas the Barmy. The portrait of Barnabas, it reminded Harry of something. That something being the room of requirement. It was strange though. How had he come to this place? He was sure he'd followed the same way as always.

Maybe the castle wanted to tell him something, Harry figured. Maybe the room could help, it was supposed to give him whatever he was looking for. The house elves knew it as the come and go room, or the room of lost things. So the room might be able to help him, especially if the thing he was searching for was lost. Sadly, the room didn't just fulfill wishes like a genie in muggle stories, or he'd just wished to be rid of Voldemort... He'd tried that already. Nonetheless, some lost magic to destroy evil lords would be nice.

"Another day, another try," Harry whispered to himself as he began pacing in front of the portrait.

'I need a room that gives me the information to defeat Voldemort and get control of my life,' he thought frantically as he walked three turns.

This time he was lucky. The door appeared on the other side of the corridor, making his heart beat faster in anticipation. Harry tentatively opened the door only to see a rather small, almost empty white room. There was an old armchair, a table and a book on the other side of the room. The only remarkable thing was the ground, it was painted with a strange pattern. Something that almost looked like a pentagram.

Harry sighed. Even though this was less than he'd hoped for, it was still better than nothing. He had never seen the room like this before, but then it looked different each time he used it. The clue was obvious. Whatever help the room had against Voldemort, it was in the book.

* * *

Harry was standing in front of a glowing pentagram. It was a few days later and having finally finished reading the textbook, he found it actually helpful. It described a summoning ritual for familiars, its uses and risks. It was about real familiars, not just glorified pets with a loyalty charm like Hedwig. He loved his owl, but she was more a liability than anything else in the war against Voldemort. No, the familiars described in the book were supposed to increase the potential of the wizard several fold. Merlin's owl had come from such a ritual, as had Asklepio's snake and, thinking about it, Harry realised the same might very well be true for Dumbledore and Voldemort. He'd always wondered where the old headmaster got his phoenix from.

While Harry wasn't sure if he could really believe the book, it wouldn't hurt to try. It said the ritual required some serious magical power, but thankfully there was no risk if he failed. He only had to perform two spells. The first was the summoning ritual and the second was the binding. The latter would connect the caster and the summon with a magical bond, which allowed their 'souls to impress on each other' or so the book said.

The thought was a bit scary to Harry first, yet when he realized the Summoning itself always brought forth a familiar that fit to the caster, that fear dissolved. There was no need to worry about losing his self or morality or something. That actually was why the book warned the user away from using specialised summoning rituals as those summoned appeared for a specific reasons and not for their alignment to the caster. It also had some rather gruesome examples, which were enough for Harry to bury any aspirations into that direction.

With a sweep of his wand, Harry lighted the candles around his glowing pentagram. They were supposed to focus his magical force. Still, it was rather spooky, the room was dark, except for the luminescence of the pentagram and the flickering, dancing light of the old wax dripping candles.

"_I beg of you…_ _My servant who lives somewhere in the universe!_ _Oh sacred, beautiful and strong familiar spirit! I desire and here I plead from my heart! Answer to my plea!_"

Harry chanted and waved his wand in an intricate pattern. The spell was always spoken in the mother tongue of the caster - the meaning was important not the words. Pointing his wand at each peak of the pentagram, the young wizard completed his ritual. Static electricity was making his hair stand on end as an inhuman howling sound reverberated through the air. Harry got goosebumps as the room temperature abruptly dropped to freezing degrees. A maelstrom of blue glowing magic was moving in the center of his summoning circle.

Suddenly, everything stopped moving. The terrifying sound was replaced by an eerie silence, even the terrible cold receded.

*crack*

The creature that appeared was like nothing Harry had ever seen before. A chitinous visage with teeth and strong mandibles was looking with a multitude of eyes at the shocked wizard. A strong pair of thick pincers was slowly moving as Harry took in the look of the creature. Bony, almost batlike wings were slowly beating, allowing the beast to hover. Barbels felt around under its mouth, tasting the air, smelling the environment.

Harry knew he had to act. The creature wouldn't be stunned for long and as long as it wasn't bound to his mind, it was potentially dangerous. He certainly didn't want to be in reach of those pincers if the creature decided to be hostile. Well, he had wanted help against Voldemort, he should have expected something like this, the young wizard thought, working up his courage. A fluffy rabbit certainly wouldn't help.

Walking forward, Harry moved into the attack range of the creature. It still seemed stunned, so he felt he could take the risk. Slowly bowing towards it, as he'd practiced, Harry touched the forehead of the beast - the part of its front without mouth and eyes - and chanted the binding:

"_My name is Harry James Potter. By the Power of Magic, the Inventiveness of Intelligence, the Brutality of Nature, the Eternity of Life and the Emptiness of Entropy. Pentagon of the Five Elemental Powers be invoked; grant thy blessings upon this humble union and make this creature my familiar."_

As these words were spoken a blue aura enveloped both Harry and the beast. Strange runes appeared on the carapace and the wings of the animal. At the same time Harry's lightning scar began to throb. A burst of pain later and Harry lost consciousness as the magic of the bond overwhelmed him.

**Authors note**: **Well, the first chapter of my first story on published. I hope you liked this, but I'd also be thankful for critical reviews. I don't have much experience with writing in third person yet… If you have ideas for improvement please tell me.**

**Anyway, just review, like most authors I'm kind of addicted to them :D**


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer:__ Elements of this story ar__e copyrighted by other parties. Sadly, I neither own Blizzard Entertainment nor am I J. K. Rowling (I wouldn't want to __be her__ age though;)_

_I neither own Harry Potter nor the Starcraft Universe._

_The premise of this story has been somewhat inspired by Familiar of Zero._

_Further Inspiration has been the story "Herald of the Void" by "Nim Maj" and "The Zerg Swarm" by East Bridge._

_Thanks to Janet for betaing._

_Warning:__ This story will contain elements of transhumanism._

**AN:** There will be no further crossing over with Familiar of Zero.

XXXHPASXXX

**Part 2:**

{Overmind, wake up,} a voice said to Harry, as he left the realm of dreams. Those had been truly strange. He was fighting muggles in strange steel armor, alien beings with magic blades and wondrous or terrifying vehicles. It wasn't like his connection to Voldemort though. It was more hazy, more like he was reliving memories in his sleep.

{Overmind?} Harry thought to himself, opening his eyes.

Two mandibles were hovering over his face, Harry could look into the tooth filled abyss of his summoned creature. He should have felt terror, but strangely the only thing he felt by this sight was a feeling of comfort. It had to be the bond, he realized. The beast was his summon after all and bound to him. It would be pretty stupid if he'd fear his familiar.

{Unit Harry-James-Potter you are the overmind,} the voice said, coming from inside his mind.

The voice felt strangely comfortable, nice, like talking to an old friend. Not like the Imperius, and certainly not like his mental connection to Voldemort. It couldn't be though as Voldemort's mind didn't feel like this. Voldemort was calculating and evil, this one was protective and friendly. At least to him. Harry understood that the voice could be rather vicious, which was not very surprising considering how dangerous the creature looked.

{What do you mean?} Harry sent his thoughts through the instinctive connection. {What is the Overmind, who are you?}

{The overmind controls the swarm. We are the swarm, the hivemind. We advise the overmind and connect the swarm,} the voice patiently explained as Harry scrambled out from under the creature.

Harry was confused. {What swarm, there is only one creature,} he said, walking around it, inspecting its form. It had a slightly luminous lightning tattoo on its forehead, directly on the spot where he had kissed it.

Something like a mental sigh came down the connection and interrupted Harry's pondering. {The drone is part of the swarm and the overmind is part of the swarm. The hivemind uses the superfluous mental resources of the members of the swarm to inform and advise the overmind.}

What had he actually summoned, Harry wondered. The creature didn't seem all that smart, but this hivemind thing reminded him of the Borg he'd seen on TV when he'd managed to sneak into Dudley's room once. It didn't seem to want to dominate him though, apparently he was to be its boss. That much he'd understood. The title overmind was somewhat self explaining after all.

{Um... what can you do?} he sent, curious about the abilities of his vicious looking familiar. It looked like someone had forgotten the stinger at the end of its short tail. Or maybe that would have been too much for the hovering ability the creature possessed.

{The hivemind can supply the overmind with information, once the overmind opens its mind to the swarm,} the hivemind sent over their connection. {Information about the drone will be available once the overminds opens itself to the swarm.}

The hivemind was a bit sly, Harry realized amused. It probably had a point though, considering he'd instinctively raised whatever occlumency shields he'd managed to gain through Snape's gruelling training. They'd been useless against Voldemort, but apparently they were enough to keep him from 'connecting' to the swarm. He wanted full use of his familiar. There was only one choice.

Searching for this swarm thing, Harry dropped his mental walls. Suddenly, somewhere in his mind another eye opened, giving him information about himself, the creature in front of him and the swarm in general. Maybe that was what Trelawney called the inner eye?

/Swarm Members: 2; Sapients: 1  
/Swarm Psionic Energy: 0  
/Overmind Hitpoints: 1  
/Overmind Armor: 0  
/Overmind Melee Damage: 0-1  
/Overmind Psionic Energy: unknown, no limit?  
/Drone Hitpoints: 40  
/Drone Armor: 2  
/Drone Melee Damage: 5

The drone really was tough. Forty hit points to his 1, Harry realized that if he read this correctly he'd be dead after one hit of his familiar. And he probably wouldn't even get through it's carapace, even though the wings looked like a weak point. Not that he planned to kill the drone, he shuddered at the thought.

What was a drone anyway, Harry wondered. Then he just knew. The knowledge suddenly was in his head. Drones were the worker units of the Zerg Swarm. They collected the resources the swarm needed and could evolve into structures needed by the swarm.

Harry's mind wandered to the Zerg topic. As soon as he thought about it, he knew the Zerg were a race of creatures that could adapt all genetic information into their own and evolve into the superior forms created by combining obtained DNA. All zerg species were united under the swarm and hivemind. The overmind controlled the Zerg.

He was supposed to be the head of a whole race, just because he summoned a familiar?! This was amazing if a bit terrifying. Still, the information was sparse, but considering that the Drone apparently was non sapient it was better than he should have expected. This was still an amazing amount of information even if it was fractured and obviously incomplete.

{Hivemind, what should I do now?} Harry asked, sending to his now silent companion as he was rather overwhelmed by the new developments. {How can I be the overmind? I'm not even a Zerg.}

{Overmind is the Overmind,} the hivemind stated, apparently not bothered by his humanity. {The Overmind should prepare a hatchery.}

Something new appeared on Harry's inner eye.

/Hatchery: Founding structure for every Zerg colony. Breeds the swarm.  
/Evolves from: Drone  
/Cost: 300 crystal/30 tons biomass  
/Evolution time: 7 days(using crystal)/ 21 days(using biomass)  
/Provides source of Zerg Creep.  
/Generates Zerg larvae: 24/day

How could he possibly use this structure? It was big as a house! And Harry knew he'd lose his vicious looking familiar. The beast was impressive enough as it was. Was the metamorphosis really worth it? What were those larvae good for anyway?

A new memory flooded his mind, enlightening Harry about his swarm. The potential was unlimited. He could use the larvae to breed his own army! Oh, he could imagine the looks of the death eaters impaled on the blades of his zerglings... Impaled? What the hell was he thinking about? He'd never wanted to kill before... Harry was confused, he didn't understand why he suddenly felt glee imagining the demise of his enemies.

{The enemies of the swarm are to be destroyed by the swarm. The enemies of the overmind are the enemies of the swarm,} the hivemind answered the question in his thoughts in its own strangely logical way. {The overmind is part of the swarm.}

This apparently was the danger the book had warned about. He was bonded to a race of vicious warrior creatures, in hindsight it was inevitable it would change his pacifistic attitude. Yet the thought worried Harry. Hopefully, that was the only thing changed about him. Naivete was a good thing to lose, but he certainly didn't want to see his friends as walking biomass... A cold shiver ran down Harry's back at this thought. No... he was still thinking of his friends fondly.

Still, he now finally had a weapon against Voldemort. The bastard and his minions wouldn't know what hit them. Although he'd only gained a small insight into the abilities of the swarm, Harry was certain that his swarm could make them eat death. Nobody could stand against the might of the swarm, nobody.

Only a hatchery was needed to begin his swarm. Afterwards it wouldn't take long until he could finally get rid of his enemies. There was a problem though. He had no idea what these crystals were that he needed to built the hatchery and the mental image appearing at the thought didn't help either. He'd never seen structures like these before. Gigantic blue crystals standing around, ready to be used. They didn't exist on earth or he'd heard about them. Sadly this meant that there would be no crystal fast built for his hatchery. Well, there was nothing he could do about it. He'd be forced to do it the slow way.

XXXHPASXXX

Sneaking out of the castle with a 2 meter long drone wasn't exactly easy. Thankfully, Harry had his invisibility cloak to cover the Zerg. It barely fit. Someone lying on the ground might have been able to look under the cover. It made climbing down the stairs a challenge.

Throwing a quick glance out of a window, Harry could see that night had fallen. Nominally it was only evening, it wasn't that late really, but with the heavy clouds it looked light deep night outside. He wasn't close to curfew, yet that meant people were walking around in the corridors, threatening to bump into the zerg-drone.

Discovery and its dangers loomed at every corner. Harry really didn't want someone find his familiar as he could guess the reaction of the ministry. Strange creature in Hogwarts? Execute it! After how they dealt with Hagrid's Hippogriff Buckbeak something like that was to be expected. Not to speak of the centuries of detention on top of it that they'd probably give him at Hogwarts on general principle.

Sometimes, Harry wished he was Draco. Just saying, 'my father will hear of this,' to get you out of trouble was something Harry could only dream about. No, it was his fate to get detention for sneezing. One month hero or chosen one and the next month mentally damaged madman. He wished the wizarding world could just let him live in peace, but no they always drew him into their conflicts.

"What are you planning?" a portrait asked loudly from the right, startling him out of his thoughts. The portrait of an older wizard in battle torn robes obviously confused volume with authority. "You're moving suspiciously!"

Harry decided to ignore it. Most portraits didn't do anything anyway. Maybe they'd go tattle to a teacher, but when they'd reported him, he'd be long gone. Not giving the thing another glance, shrugging off its yells, Harry strode down a usually unused staircase. His drone was following obediently.

The detour had been worth it, Harry thought as he strode down a corridor to the entrance hall. Nobody that would want to talk to him had met him. Almost out of the castle, almost safe. The gates were close... He was striding towards the exit when he saw Neville coming from the great hall, instantly choosing Harry as his target.

"Harry, Harry, wait a second," Neville panted, running towards the last Potter.

Harry suppressed a sigh. Neville bugging him about something was the last thing the young wizard needed. "Hi, Neville," Harry began, hoping that whatever his housemate wanted wouldn't take long.

"Hi, Harry. Um... do you know the current password? I've kind of forgotten it," the young man said, blushing with embarrassment.

Although his membership in the DA had boosted Neville's confidence, the shy Gryffindor still had memory troubles. It had certainly gotten better, Harry had to admit. On the other hand the forgetfulness might have been more than just timidity. Neville's memory aside, Harry was glad that this was the only thing his housemate wanted, considering he had more important things to do right now.

"It's _Dilligrout_, Neville. Don't forget it again."

"Sure, thanks, Harry. See you later," Neville replied and almost ran away. Apparently, he wasn't the only one in a hurry, Harry realized with a small smile.

Mentally commanding the drone to follow him, Harry quickly left the gates behind and moved towards the forbidden forest. On his way he carefully avoided Hagrid's hut. While his half-giant friend would have been fascinated by the drone, Harry knew that Hagrid couldn't keep a secret even if his life depended on it.

When Harry finally reached the border to the forest, he'd figured he needed the right place to hide his hatchery. It wasn't like the Forbidden Forest was empty after all. The centaurs were strange, but whenever they weren't looking at the stars they were easy to upset and rather radical in their reactions. Harry didn't know what the centaurs would do to his hatchery, but it probably wouldn't be good.

On the other hand there were the acromantula. Considering his experience with the hungry giant spiders Harry knew that placing his swarm center close to the acromantula colony was as good as killing it himself. They didn't attack Hagrid as he'd raised their Patriarch, yet Harry was painfully aware that this protection did not extend to Hagrid's friends.

Thankfully, both kinds of sapient creature kept to themselves, so there was a corridor in the center of the forest that they'd declared demilitarized zone or something. At least that was how Hagrid had explained the situation. While the large man was a great teacher - He certainly knew his creatures - he sadly didn't realize not everyone had the endurance of a half-giant. That was one of the reasons Harry had discontinued Hagrid's class. Considering his new familiar, it might have been smarter for him to choose otherwise. Well, there was no use crying about spilled milk, Harry decided.

Casting a lumos charm, enlightening the wood in front of him, Harry stepped into the darkness of the forbidden forest. He knew would need to walk quite a while as his plan required stealth in the beginning. No need to make new enemies as his swarm wasn't even ready to face his existing ones yet. Finding a place somewhere deep in the forest was his best option. There he could hide his hatchery unseen of all human eyes and obscured from the forest's beasts by all sorts of charms.

Harry had learned the _notice me not _in charms class and the animal ward had been a homework assignment of Hagrid's. He was aware there were better wards, the last Potter thought as he almost stumbled over a root, but it had to be enough for now.

"Tsssss...," the drone suddenly hissed a warning.

Harry turned around on his heels only to see a two meter large acromantula that had snuck up on him from behind. It had its black mandibles raised threateningly and looked ready to pounce the young overmind.

"**Expelliarmus**!" Harry yelled the first spell that came to his mind.

The spider was hit and thrown back a few feet. Fuck, what was he thinking, Harry cursed himself for his stupidity. What was he doing, trying to use a disarming spell on a bloody acromantula? He'd only managed to enrage the beast. These monsters were fast. They weren't labeled wizard killers for no reason.

So used to spell-combat Harry had almost forgotten his familiar. The drone had faded into the background of his mind as he concentrated on the fight.

Yet the lone Zerg thought otherwise. It wouldn't let its fragile overmind face the enemy alone. Roaring its shrill battlecry the drone launched itself on the giant spider. It had used the short reprieve after its overminds attack to gently push the invisibility cloak off its pincers. While the lone zerg wasn't really intelligent, the hivemind knew that the cloak was an important strategic asset for its master. Therefore hivemind, wanted the cloak save, but the drone didn't care once its pincers were free. It wouldn't rip the cloak apart, that had to be enough. The overmind needed protection after all.

"**Stupor**!" Harry cried out, pointing his wand at the quickly approaching spider.

Even though the spell hit, nothing happened at all. The ugly giant spider was probably immune.

"**Impedimenta**!" the young wizard yelled his next spell.

This time the acromantula stumbled, slowing down its attack. "**Reducto**!" Harry screamed, having barely enough time for a last curse. The giant spider was almost upon him. He saw his death coming, the monster was too close to miss, but so was Harry. The curse hit its chitinous carapace, cracking the spiders armor and somehow throwing the creature maybe one and a half meters away.

It had magic resistance, that much the young wizard could tell, as the spell was not as effective as it was supposed to be. The _reducto _only lightly cracked the monster's armor instead of destroying it outright. It only gave him a short breathing room. The acromantula wasn't that easily defeated. Readying his next spell Harry saw his loyal drone join the fight. It flew into the spider, ripping off it's legs with its strong pincers while spewing some green goo onto the spider's carapace.

An almost human cry of pain escaped the monster, totally blindsided by the invisible drone. Turning away from the human prey, the acromantula faced the foe that had actually hurt it. Meanwhile a groan escaped Harry as he saw spider blood splattering all over his invisibility cloak, rendering the drone visible in the process. His precious cloak was bloodied, maybe even ruined. Harry probably would have been angry if the drone hadn't bought him some direly needed breathing room.

Using the short time window, Harry began to carefully charge his spell. He needed all the power. The hasty one didn't get through the armor after all. "**re-DUK-to**!" Harry yelled, as he performed the wand movement meticulously careful.

Even though Harry had performed the wand movement well that had impaired his aim. The spell didn't go directly to the center, no it almost soared over the acromantula's head . Only the fact that the giant spider rose in the last moment, totally enraged and focussed in its attack on his drone, made Harry's curse hit.

It wasn't perfect, only a glancing hit, but since it hit the already acid soaked armor it proved to be enough to disintegrate part of it. The drone used this opportunity. Mostly controlled by the hive mind to direct its aim, the zerg followed its instincts to launch itself on the foul monster spider, just as that one flinched back from the pain. This was enough to end the fight. Such an opening couldn't stay unused. Driving its pincer right through the broken armor, into the brain of the acromantula, the drone killed the acromantula and ended the fight.

Harry panted, adrenaline was running through his veins. This was way too close for his liking. If it wasn't for his familiar he might have been dead. And all of this just because he forgot a charm. _Arania Exumai_. A simple spider repelling charm... He'd actually looked it up after their second year acromantula adventure... and he'd forgotten it when he needed it most. Crap.

Taking his dirty invisibility cloak from the drone, Harry sighed about the mess. Cleaning it up without getting caught would be difficult. At least he had some biomass for his hatchery. Not the way he had imagined, but there was no reason to complain. At least he was alive. Dumbledore was wise to warn his students of the forest. It was a bloody death trap. Casting a featherlight charm on the carcass, Harry ordered his drone to carry the corpse of their attacker with them.

After walking for half an hour, Harry decided it was enough. They were deep in the forest, nothing was to be seen or heard except for the rustling of the fallen leaves. An eerie silence reigned under the large trees of the ancient forest. Those would have enough biomass, Harry was certain. With trees this large his ressources wouldn't run out. Most likely it was more than he'd ever need.

{Hivemind, how do I place a hatchery?} Harry inquired of his helpful mental companion.

{Just think about the placement. A vision of the needed room should appear in your view.}

Well, if that wasn't cryptic Harry didn't know what was. Placement of a hatchery, he thought to himself, not sure what would happen. His minds eye showed an outline of the final creature, the hatchery fully grown. It was hard to imagine his drone could turn into something that, a five sided fleshy pyramide with teeth and bone protrusions. Meanwhile a red circle appeared in his view, showing the hatchery's size. Harry was in the center and the whole thing probably had a radius of about 15 meters. A place that needed to be cleared of trees before he could really begin.

Thank Merlin for magic, the young wizard thought to himself. If he had been a muggle it would have taken forever to create that clearing. Dudley in his situation? Hah that would have been ridiculous. Yet there was something he wanted to test first before he began. How effective was that drone felling trees? Although it had proven itself potent fighter, Harry knew that wasn't its real purpose.

Mentally ordering the drone to bring down the trees in the clearing, Harry moved backwards, lest the trees fell on him. There was no reason for his fear though as the drone turned out to be a competent lumberjack. Using its acid and pincers to cut a wedge into the wood, the Zerg was able to control the direction of the tree's fall.

It took only a minute until the first large beech came down, crashing into the ground with a widely audible thud. Harry hoped this wouldn't attract further predators or even worse the centaurs. Yet even with all his magic he couldn't do anything about the noise. Magic always hinged on the right spell. The silencio charm for example only worked to shut up beasts and beings, falling trees were not included.

Merlin, Harry thought with a grin, there had to be something like a sound ward. Ron couldn't be the first wizard in history that snored like a chainsaw. Maybe he should ask Hermione when he went back, Harry figured. Why couldn't they learn anything useful at school?

Deciding to help his drone, Harry pondered his options. Reducto and Diffindo might work. He'd need to carefully gauge the power of his charms, but if he did it correctly, he could use Reducto to create a wedge like his drone did and use Diffindo to finish off the tree. He had to hurry though. He'd be in trouble if he wasn't back in his dormitory before curfew.

Choosing a tree, Harry cast: "Reducto". A satisfied grin played over his face as he watched the spell disintegrate a good chunk of the birch's trunk.

Yet the grin disappeared very quickly when the tree began to fall towards him. The reducto had taken out too much of the tree. Way more than the small breach he had intended.

"Shit!" Harry cussed as he ran out of the falling vector, only sending his drone a command to get away as an afterthought. It was a good thing he did though as the drone barely escaped the falling branches. The tree would have come down directly on the drone.

Merlin this was stupid, Harry berated himself. Zergs might be tough, if his memory didn't deceive him, but that didn't mean they could survive a falling tree. Although maybe they could but that didn't change the fact he should really think before he acted. His impatience could cost him more than just lost chess matches against Ron.

At least the tree was down now, fallen directly into the center of his planned clearing, exactly to the place where Harry needed the biomass. How he knew that, Harry couldn't tell. Most likely it was the instinctual knowledge again, the memories he'd never made and gained thanks to his connection to the swarm.

Yet this scare made Harry more careful. Voldemort might plot his death, but Harry certainly didn't want to help the bastard offing him. Now he and his loyal drone worked in concert, the trees fell quickly. Removing the circa fifteen trees in the planned clearing, as well as some underbrush, turned out to be easy. It didn't take long and Harry they had enough biomass for the morph.

Still there were some trees left. The outer trees would have to serve another purpose. He didn't want to leave them unused. After casting a featherlight charms on the trunks, Harry ordered his drone to position them as some kind of wooden barrier to block and hide the clearing. This way they'd also be out of the way for the hatchery's growth.

As he'd finally finished his clearing, Harry sent a question to the hivemind: {How do I progress now? How do I start growing a hatchery?}

{The Overmind should use psionic-techniques to hide hatchery breeding ground. The Overmind should also use the enemy-creature's carcass as easily convertible biomass for drone evolution. The Overmind should then supply psionic-energy to hatchery cocoon,} the hivemind replied, advising its young overmind.

{What is psionic-energy? Is it magic?} Harry mentally asked, confused about the strange terms.

/Psionic energy can be used by psionics to influence reality around them.  
/Overmind psionic energy available: unknown  
/Overmind psionic energy used: 509  
/Overmind psionic abilities:  
/Lumos: 5pe; dmg: 0  
/Expelliarmus: 10pe; dmg: 0  
/Stupor: 7pe; dmg: 0  
/Impedimenta: 10 pe; dmg: 0  
/Reducto: 7-20 pe; dmg: 4-12  
/Penna Pondo: 7-12 pe; dmg: 0  
/Diffindo 10 pe; dmg: 6

Magic really was this psionic energy, Harry nodded to himself. It was interesting that the hivemind kept track of his spells and proved its martial disposition again, only naming the damage dealt. Apparently effects weren't that important, or it didn't understand. In the end it wasn't that important. He still had some work to do.

Hiding the new clearing, and his growing hatchery… that would be difficult considering its size, Harry figured. The notice me not would need to be cast over everything, especially the wooden barrier, to keep people away. He also knew the Muggle repelling charm and the animal ward. Hopefully one of them would work against the creatures of the forest.

Having made his decision, Harry walked through the underbrush around the clearing, casting the wards on his barrier. Maybe he should lookup ward-crafting in the library the next days. Flitwick might let him do it as a project. The half-goblin usually was really nice about stuff like that. With Voldemort around his interest wouldn't even raise eyebrows.

Groaning, Harry leaned against a tree-trunk as he mentally ordered his drone to pull the acromantula carcass into the center of the clearing. His new memories indicated the drone would root into it and drain it of all usable mass. Then it would be large enough to be able to consume the trees.

Harry was curious. All his preparation was done and the drone was hovering in the center of the clearing, on top of the spider corpse. He had some general idea what would happen, but didn't know the exact processes, which were controlled by the genetic information of the drone. Focusing his mind on the drone, the young wizard accessed the hivemind, sending his order to evolve the drone.

Instantly, it began to consume the carcass and started to bloat even as its mouth was still consuming the spiders flesh. After a short time it was maybe a few minutes, where Harry was watching the process fascinated, pulsing veins were forming on the surface of the drones wings. Those had stopped flapping only a minute or so after Harry had given the order for the transformation.

Meanwhile the veins were connecting a slowly forming, growing, throbbing heart with feelers that were sneaking out towards the felled trees. It looked creepy and disturbing to his upbringing, as well as strangely satisfying and comforting to his newly gained instincts. There was also a feeling of accomplishment emanating from the hivemind, filling Harry's mind with happiness.

{The overmind should feed psionic-energy to the cocoon,} the hivemind suggested. {It will accelerate the evolution.}

Harry was stumped about this. While he had learned that spells apparently used it he had no idea how to actually send it pure. He didn't know how to send psionic energy. Spells apparently used it, but he had no idea where it came from. Magic was magic and wizards had magic. He'd never thought about the source. If it had been ever mentioned at Hogwarts, he'd slept in that class. Well, although there was the so called magic core, Hermione thought that theory was bullisht. Either you had magic or you didn't. The only difference between Dumbledore and Neville was knowledge and the skill to use it. Nobody got more or less magic than another wizard. In magic every wizard was equal.

Casting a Reducto at the cocoon wouldn't help, Harry thought, but maybe there was another option. The wand was a conduit for magic, so maybe he just had to point the magical stick, Harry decided and leveled his wand towards the developing Zerg. The wand shook a bit, before Harry steadied his hand. Yet nothing happened at all, disappointing the last Potter's hopes. Normal transformations didn't work without will either so Harry decided to try something else. Nonetheless willing his magic down the wand didn't work either. Not even sparks shot from his phoenix wand. He was still doing it wrong.

{The Overmind should touch the hatchery cocoon,} the hivemind suggested, feeling Harry's troubles. {It'll allow the swarm to drain psionic energy from the Overmind.}

It wouldn't hurt to try... He was the overmind, the cocoon shouldn't try to absorb him, Harry hoped. The drone in its metamorphosis looked really creepy, spreading its flesh over the ground as it formed its ever growing cocoon. Harry walked forwards, tentatively reaching out to touch the slowly moving exterior of his zerg.

As soon as he touched, a connection to his head opened. It felt horrible… as if something was sucking out his life, his energy, right through his palm. Then, from one moment to the next the flow stopped, just when he feared it would drain him dry.

{Overmind maximum psionic energy 40. Used 35pe. Did the Overmind access a different source of psionic energy?} the hivemind sent, transmitting its confusion.

This was strange. Considering the use of psionic-energy the hivemind had calculated for his usual spells this didn't make sense to him. Harry had used more than 40pe in his fight against the acromantula. Hell he'd used over 500 pe since he'd bonded to the drone... So what was the hivemind talking about, Harry wondered. Maybe wands reduced the drain... Did that mean the stuff about magical cores had some basis in reality? While he could only guess, one of the teachers should know the answer.

Panting, Harry straightened up. This last operation had been both painful and exhausting. He knew why wizards used wands if the alternative always felt like this. Merlin who ever bothered training wandless if it felt like this. He'd used Lumos wandlessly last year without experiencing problems, but that probably didn't count, considering the dementor attack and the fact lumos only took 5 psionic energy. Speculations about magical cores aside, he still needed to go back to the castle.

After casting a last set of protection spells on the growing hatchery's cocoon, Harry grabbed his invisibility cloak from the stump where he'd left it. It reeked, badly. He should have done something about it earlier, but somehow the swarm seemed more important. Merlin's pants, he hadn't even thought of a cleaning charm. Now a quick scourgify removed some of the blood and the horrifying smell, yet it was too late. Some of the acromantula blood had soaked into the cloak, coloring it red. He wouldn't be able to use it as an invisibility cloak for now forcing him to hurry through the forest on his own.

XXXHPASXXX

**Authors note**: **The second chapter is out now****.**** I guess I should have added the first part of this chapter to the last, but whatever.**** I hope you liked this, but I'd also be thankful for critical reviews. I don't have much experience with writing in third person yet… If you have ideas for improvement please tell me.**

**Anyway, just review, like most authors I'm kind of addicted to them :D**

OneSilverWing9: Yes I intentionally used a somewhat changed version of the summoning ritual from familiar of zero. I won't use any other elements of that series though.


	3. Chapter 3

**Posting date**: 05.01.2013

* * *

_Disclaimer:__ Elements of this story are copyrighted by other parties. Sadly, I neither own Blizzard Entertainment nor am I J. K. Rowling (I wouldn't want to be her age though;)_

_I neither own Harry Potter nor the Starcraft Universe._

_This story has been inspired by the story "Herald of the Void" by "Nim Maj" and "The Zerg Swarm" by East Bridge._

_Thanks to Janet for betaing._

_Warning:__ This story will contain elements of transhumanism._

XXXHPASXXX

_After casting a last set of protection spells on the growing hatchery's cocoon, Harry grabbed his invisibility cloak from the stump where he'd left it. It reeked, badly. He should have done something about it earlier, but somehow the swarm seemed more important. Merlin's pants, he hadn't even thought of a cleaning charm. Now a quick scourgify removed some of the blood and the horrifying smell, yet it was too late. Some of the acromantula blood had soaked into the cloak, coloring it red. He wouldn't be able to use it as an invisibility cloak for now forcing him to hurry through the forest on his own._

**Part 3:**

Thankfully the return went without a hitch. Harry was too late for dinner, he realized after casting a quick tempus charm. While the fact he missed the meal might raise some awkward questions, the missed food wasn't a problem. It was a good thing he knew the way to the kitchen under the great hall, so he didn't have to go to bed hungry.

"Blimey," Harry cussed as he passed the hogwarts gates, more than a bit angry that he hadn't thought taking a bag. Now he was forced to carry his invisibility cloak tightly gripped under his arm, hoping nobody would call him on it. At least it wasn't reeking anymore, but the bloody color was still suspicious.

Kitchen... it reminded Harry of his house elven friend. Maybe Dobbie could help, he was sure the small terror wouldn't mind. House elves were good at doing laundry, after all, and Dobbie always wanted to help him. Merlin be praised, nowadays the elf even asked if help was needed or wanted. Harry really didn't need another 9 ¾ fiasko again. Thinking back at that catastrophe, the last Potter shuddered. Merlin he'd almost thought Dobbie was the monster of the chamber. Even though, if he'd know Dobbie warned him of a Basilisk he might have even considered staying at the Dursleys. Not likely, Harry laughed to himself.

Decision made, Harry walked towards the stairs that led to the kitchen. No teacher was around, and, strangely, even Mr. Filch's annoying cat was absent. The few Hufflepuff and Gryffindor first years running around knew not to pester their seniors. Or it might have been his unwanted fame, separating him from the rest of the students, Harry thought. It was annoying sometimes, yet he was thankful nobody tried to approach him right now.

Greeting his classmate Hannah Abbot in passing, Harry followed the stairs one floor down and stopped in front of a large fruit bowl painting. After tickling the pear, Harry grabbed the doorknob that had formed from the fruit. Opening the door, Harry found himself in the busy, swarming crowd of house elves that moved diligently through the gigantic room.

"The great Harry Potter Sir visits Dobby. Harry Potter Sir is truly great," Harry was greeted by the eager house elf.

"Um...," Harry began only to be interrupted by his house elven friend.

"The great Harry Potter Sir, already has another bond," Dobby suddenly sobbed. "Dobby shouldn't complain..."

Harry was stunned. "Dobby, what do you mean?"

"Dobby is happy to be a free elf, even though Dobby can't help to be envious of the elf, who was lucky enough to call Harry Potter Sir his master."

Harry finally understood. "I have inherited Kreacher, but I don't think I have a bond with him. It's something else, I think." Looking warily at the other house elves, Harry continued whispering. "It's a secret, please don't tell anyone, but I've bound a familiar."

"Harry Potter Sir doesn't need to fear the house elves. We are not allowed to tattle on the young masters," the little house elf in front of Harry had obviously understood his concern. "Dobby is honored that you take Dobby into your confidence. Harry Potter Sir truly is the greatest wizard ever."

Harry wasn't certain if he agreed with the elf's definition of greatest. Hermione was his better in magic and Ron could outthink him almost all the time. Sure, he was good at getting stuff done, but whether that made him a great wizard he didn't know.

While he enjoyed talking to the house elf that wasn't the reason why he'd come to the kitchen. "Um, Dobby, I need your help," Harry said to the house elf, nervously playing with his hands.

"What can Dobby do for you?"

"Um... I kinda messed up my invisibility cloak and I need it cleaned. I wanted to ask if you could do that discreetly," Harry explained, showing the cloak to his house elven friend. "I've also missed supper, can you help me there?"

Harry hadn't finished the last sentence completely when a cracking sound made him flinch and a house elf popped up in front of him. "Master can't stay hungry," the elf stated firmly and grabbed his hand. "Master should follow Luwwy."

"Dobby feels honored to do this task for Harry Potter Sir," his little friend said, taking the offered cloak and popped away.

Meanwhile, Harry followed the other elf, or rather was dragged along to one of the big tables in the center of the room.

XXXHPASXXX

"Dilligrout," Harry said to the portrait, crawling through the hole behind it as it swung out of the way.

He'd almost overeaten in the kitchen. His tummy was slightly hurting, Harry inwardly moaned as he climbed out of the hole, entering the common room. He was just that full. Maybe he should just call Dobby next time when he wanted something to eat. That elf was at least listening when he said he had enough. But honestly, it wasn't like they'd force fed him with old bread. No, it was more like a feast only for him alone. It made him wonder though, would the Zerg actually appreciate such a meal?

{Biomass is better unprepared for the swarm. The Swarm is optimised for biomass extraction. Processes such as cooking are unnecessary.} The hivemind sent.

It made sense, Harry acknowledged. Taste was just a way to tell the viability of the food. Cooking made the nutrients more easily accessible for humans, but if Zerg didn't need it, cooking was pointless.

"Mate, where have you been?" Ron asked worried, quickly walking towards his friend. "We thought you might have been abducted by Death Eaters."

Harry shook his head, waiting until Hermione had caught up with them. "I did some research at the room of Requirement," he said, motioning his friends towards the next free couch. "Dumbledore showed me nothing but memories about Riddle again, the other day... I figured I'd need to prepare myself."

"Harry, I'm sure Dumbledore has a good reason for doing this," Hermione chastised, tentatively hugging her friend. "You don't need to worry, but please don't just leave again."

"Yeah, mate... Dumbledore has everything under control," Ron said, trying to appease his friend's worries.

Harry wasn't so sure about that. Considering the almost dead state of Dumbledore's arm, it was rather doubtful that the old headmaster was really in control of the situation. Voldemort was murdering people left and right, but it didn't look like the headmaster had an idea how to stop the vile terrorist.

Still, he didn't want to keep things secret from his two best friends. "I've found something that might help. I'll show you once it is ready, although I'm not sure how it'll pan out. So please don't get your hopes up."

"It's not that bloody Half-Blood Prince again, is it?" Hermione asked, her dislike of Harry's potion book was obvious. "That's cheating!"

"Hermione!" Ron said loudly, more than a bit annoyed that she brought the book up again.

"It's not cheating," Harry replied shirty. He didn't want to back down anymore, affirming his best mate's fears. "The recipes in the original book are shit, you shouldn't complain, just copy the better ones."

"But..."

"No but!" Harry interrupted, before his friend could talk herself into another rage. "I don't have the time to waste on my own potion research, I told you I have another project. If you really care, you can borrow the book and try to find out how it works yourself."

That shut the bushy haired girl up for once. He loved his friend, but Harry could understand how she always managed to drive Ron up the wall. He certainly didn't appreciate to be the target of another one of her righteous crusades.

"Come on, everyone knows you are the brain of our trio. If anyone can find out why those potion recipes are better than the textbook it's you," Harry added to make sure she understood. "I'm pretty sure Slughorn will give you extra credit if you can prove to him that the textbooks suck."

It was the bloody felix felicis, Harry thought. He was almost willing to bet his ass on it. Hermione being jealous of him was really strange. Hell, she'd been better at potions all the time. Just because he'd triumphed once she didn't need to behave like this. Harry was used to a bit of jealousy from Ron, but there he could at least somewhat understand it. It couldn't be easy to be the youngest son of a family like the Weasleys after all. Hermione, though, her jealousy he couldn't understand at all. Mental she was, as his best mate used to say.

"It's still not right, Hermione insisted, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Um... guys," Ron began, only to be interrupted by Harry. "Yes, it is, or do you think we should still believe the earth is flat and the moon is made from cheese just because someone wrote it down once."

"Yes, but..."

Hermione was interrupted as Ron poked her into her side. "Wait a second," the youngest Weasley son said, raising a hand. "I can understand your point, you dislike cheating. And I know, Harry using his book wasn't exactly fair. But you also have to see his side. The recipes in the book are better and he'd be stupid to use Borage's instructions from the textbook. If the class was with anyone other than the Slytherins, I'd be all for sharing, but do you really want Malfoy to have those recipes?" Ron made a face, saying this.

She shook her head, she hadn't wanted the arrogant pureblood to win, either. The same time Harry was surprised that Ron actually defended him. The young wizard had a major crush on Hermione after all, but apparently he too couldn't stand the poisoned atmosphere anymore.

"I guess it was a bit sneaky," Harry admitted reluctantly. "Yet, it was technically within the rules. We were supposed to brew the potion and not brew the potion exactly according to the recipe in the book," he threw a glare at his female friend. "You know very well you're better than me in potions. Do you need confirmation that badly? Merlin, you brewed a bloody polyjuice potion in second year and now you're still moping because something this silly?!"

Hermione had the grace to look ashamed.

"If it's the felix felicis, you can have half of it," Harry offered, driving his point home.

"No... I'm sorry, you don't need to."

Ron leaned back on the couch, happy that his friends seemed to settle their argument. He hated to see his two best friends divided. While Harry was sort of right and his best mate, Hermione was Hermione. He really didn't want to pick sides.

"Yes, you need." Harry said decisively, looking into the eyes of his female friend. "You're my best friend, and I don't want you to think that I'm taking stuff away from you. Besides, you can use it whenever you're searching for Flamel the next time."

Ron began to laugh, it actually wasn't all that bad an idea. Hermione's research had saved their ass more than just once and her finishing it earlier could save all their lives. "Good thinking, Harry," he praised his mate.

"But you might need it against Voldemort," Hermione replied worried, not so sure about her righteousness anymore.

Harry shook his head. "I don't think so. The dark tosser won't tell me when he attacks. I doubt I'll have time to fetch the potion."

"I guess..." Hermione reluctantly admitted.

"Ron, just copy the notes into your book. I'll help you to read them," Harry suggested, changing the topic as he remembered Ron's problem with the Half Blood Prince's handwriting.

His best mate wasn't to be distracted from his train of thought though. Ron grinned at Hermione:"Yeah, just take the potion," he said and continued to tease, "You can use it to breeze through the exams."

That was the cue to turn their conversation into the usual squabble between Harry's two best friends. Over the years Harry had gotten the impression they actually enjoyed their little spats as they were rarely cross with each other afterwards. The last Potter sighed, watching his friends snark and argue while they copied the notes.

XXXHPASXXX

Over the next days drama ruled Gryffindor tower and kept Harry away from checking on his growing hatchery. The latter worried him a bit, but since the hivemind didn't feel endangered he figured it would be appropriate to focus on the school. The quidditch game against Slytherin was approaching and Harry's best mate was progressively losing his nerves with every day.

Meanwhile Ginny didn't improve the situation at all, mocking and humiliating her brother for his insecurity. Harry didn't know what to think about it... While he didn't want to admit it to himself, there was no denying that his crush on Ginny might cloud his opinion of the fiery redheaded girl.

The hivemind didn't care for her cuteness at all. It made clear it didn't like her very much as it considered her temper a liability, a danger to the swarm. Harry wanted to call this lies, but the way she'd verbally pummeled her brother after he'd interrupted her snogging session with Dean, he couldn't. Doubts also started to grow within Harry. A family was supposed to hold together, not morally and mentally destroy each other. Who knew what she'd do to the swarm if she was pissed. Still, it was hot...

Ron certainly wasn't the same anymore after she'd taunted him with his lacking experience in the romance department. Well... to be fair, Ron overreacted himself, yet that was no reason to humiliate him that much. Merlin's Beard, she had to know what she was doing. She'd deliberately hurt him as much as she could. The guy wasn't the same afterwards anymore... Speculating about Ron kissing his pigwidgeon, what the hell was she thinking?

Harry sighed, the damage was done and now he got to see his best mate yelling at a little girl just because she stood in his way. The young wizard was visibly seething and looking for an outlet. Harry didn't know what to do about it. Why couldn't Ginny just hit her brother or something? Hell, break his bones, crucio him. Each of those injuries would have been healed easier than her verbal attack. Now Ron would make everyone miserable for the next few days, if Harry didn't somehow find a miracle solution for his best friend's problems. He really wished Ginny was his girlfriend instead of Dean's, but the way Ron was now, the young overmind didn't want to bring it up.

"D'you think Hermione did snog Krum?" Ron asked abruptly, as they approached the Fat Lady.1

'Crap,' Harry thought to himself. He really didn't want to answer this question. But not answering would be an answer in itself and probably the worst one. It would hurt the swarm... his friends. Harry knew he mustn't screw this up. His friend really needed some encouragement and not another blow on the ego.

"Yeah," Harry confirmed sighing, he hated the whole situation. Merlin, why couldn't Ginny just call Ron the annoying asshole prat he'd been? Instead, Harry had to deal with this mess now. Seeing his friends expression he quickly interjected: "Don't worry, mate, Hermione is totally over with him. She's totally into you now."

Thankfully, Harry had hit the right tone. His friend seemed to look happier than a minute ago. "Are you sure, mate?" Ron asked, still skeptical. "She didn't seem all that interested."

"Mate are you blind? She even wanted to take you to the slug-party!" Harry said waving his arms in exasperation, yet glad that he could distract his friend.

"But... McLaggen..." Ron stammered, his rage almost forgotten.

"Mate, she can't stand that guy," Harry groaned. His friend was just too blind. "Where did you get the idea she'd go out with him?"

"Don't know," Ron shrugged. "She's always criticizing me, how am I supposed to know she likes me?"

That was a good question, one where Harry didn't know the answer either. He'd thought Ginny liked him, but now she went out with Dean of all people.

"Dilligrout," Harry said to the Fat Lady, not sure how to answer his best friend. "I guess she wants you to be better. She obviously care for you."

Climbing through the portrait hole, Harry heard his friend mutter: "Right... as a friend."

Harry groaned, as he entered the common room. Ginny really had crushed her brother's confidence.

"Mate," Harry said, turning around to see his friend climbing out of the hole. "You know girls are mental, right? She probably wants you to ask her out the first time. The bloke is supposed to ask the girl, I think. I'm not exactly an expert on it either. Maybe you should try asking her out before?"

"But... what if..." Ron stammered, not sure what to do. "What should I do?"

"Ask her out for a dinner? I don't know how it works, either," Harry sighed. "Just be nice to her and it'll work out. I don't think dating traditions are really important to Hermione... If you want real advice, you should consider asking one of your brothers."

While Ron didn't look too happy about that suggestion, he still nodded. "I guess I'll write Bill. I don't trust Fred and George with something like this. Well, see you later."

{Overmind was successful normalizing rage level of unit Ronald-Bilius-Weasley.} The hivemind congratulated as his friend went to write his letter. {Overmind should consider integrating friendly units into swarm to avoid further conflicts.}

{Integrate?} Harry echoed the thought back at the hivemind. {What do you mean?}

{Overmind can integrate non-swarm-units into the swarm. There are no conflicts in the swarm. The swarm works for the goals of the swarm.} the hivemind explained.

That didn't explain anything really. So, apparently he could somehow add his friends to the swarm, but the hivemind didn't explain how. 'Why did the hivemind think there were no conflicts in the swarm?' Harry wondered.

{Hivemind needs to access overminds memory to understand the question. Overmind needs to grant access} The hivemind replied to his thoughts.

Apparently, his mind wasn't open enough again. First, he trained a year more or less without success to close it and now... Now he needed to do the exact opposite. Suppressing another sigh, Harry flopped down on the next best free couch and closed his eyes, trying to blend out his busy, rackety housemates.

While Harry had no idea how to go about it, he figured maybe relaxing would work. He slowly breathed in and out, ignoring the racket around him. Then he tried feeling the hivemind, the swarm. He found two connections, one simple, slowly thinking mind, far away and the hivemind, close, as if it was in his own skull. Not really sure what to do next, Harry pulled at his connection to the hivemind. It came - there were no words to describe that sensation - and he let it in.

It was a strange sensation to have someone, something else use your memories. Events flickered up before Harry's inner eye, definitions echoed through his mind, and then, suddenly, it stopped.

{You didn't need to draw hivemind in. You could have just opened your memory,} the hivemind sent, confusing Harry with the sudden change of address. {You are confused. You need to understand that the overmind is the swarm. You are not separate. You know what the swarm knows and the swarm knows what you know. The swarm wants what you want and you want what the swarm wants. The swarm is The Swarm and the swarm is its units. The swarm knows no egoism.}

Harry scratched his head. The hivemind sort of made sense, but he didn't really understand. Did it just criticize him for regarding himself as Harry Potter and not the Overmind? Apparently, the swarm did what he, Harry wanted and on the other hand he got whatever wants the swarm had. His mind was hurting from the concept. This was getting progressively complicated.

{The hivemind realizes now that you were not always the overmind} it stated. {It does not matter though. You have to accept that you are the overmind. You are the swarm.}

{I guess so,} Harry mentally sighed. {My head hurts, I'll go to sleep, maybe tomorrow I'll be able to think more clearly}

{Sleep is inefficient. The overmind should consider integrating Zerg information into your code of life.}, the hivemind mulled, as Harry stood up to join Ron doing homework before going to bed.

XXXHPASXXX

Lying in the bed that night, Harry had trouble sleeping. He was split between his feelings for a certain redheaded girl, his concerns for Ron, and the hivemind's criticism of said girl. He wished she'd snogged with him instead of Dean, but in the dark corners of his mind he feared his best friend's reaction. There also was the fact that the hivemind thought her a liability. Harry wasn't sure if it was really Ginny, or if the hivemind just disliked human mating behavior in general. Reproduction was certainly easier for the Zerg.

Dreams that night were disturbing. A Ron lashing out at everyone around him, a Zerg-Swarm devouring worlds and him incapable of preventing either. At least the morning was nice, Ron had taken his advice and was nice to Hermione, only to have Ginny tease him nastily about it. The fiery redheaded girl obviously hadn't forgotten her rage overnight.

The real surprise was something else, though, it was Hermione's reaction. "For god's sake," Harry's best female friend cussed. "I don't know what he's done to you, but please go and take your foul mood somewhere else."

To Harry's chagrin, she did exactly do that. He'd enjoyed watching the youngest Weasley. Yet what was done was done. Calling her back with this temper would not be productive, Harry knew. Well, there was nothing he could do about it. Sighing to himself, Harry followed his friends down to the great hall for breakfast. He'd hoped that Ron felt better, now that his row with Hermione was fixed, but as soon as their conversation moved to Quidditch, Ron's face grew pale. He even stopped eating, stating he was full. No, it seemed while the romance troubles of Harry's friend were gone, his Quidditch problems had increased. Maybe he shouldn't have intervened last night, Harry thought desperately.

XXXHPASXXX

1: Quoted from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

**AN: Well, in this chapter we see for the first time how the addition of the Zerg affects the HP-Universe. I never really liked the annoying Drama and Angst of book six. It was more about Hermione and Ron's romance than anything else, really. It's not because I'm a dedicated Harmonian or something, but because I was really disappointed to read about Harry just following Dumbledore's lead, stalking Snape and passively watching Pensieve memories and the Drama of his best friends' relationship.**

**I'll try to do better. Harry will question things and he'll try to avoid being a tool. Yet he won't become the Heir of Gryffindor, Hogwarts and Jesus who just has to stamp his foot twice to rid the world of the evil overlord Dumbledore. **

**Thank you for reading my story. I hope you enjoyed it so far and will generously gift me with reviews. :D**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Published: **11.01.2013

* * *

_Disclaimer:__ Elements of this story are copyrighted by other parties.__ While my wallet would be grateful, I neither __own __StarCraft nor the Harry Potter franchise__. _

_If you thought I did, I'd love to know where you got that idea. Everything not owned by J. K. Rowling and Blizzard Entertainment (or whatever their name is right now) is owned by me._

XXXHPASXXX

**Part 4:**

"Good morning, my dear pupils," the small wizard said from atop of the books he'd piled behind his desk.

Harry was glad it had finally begun. He'd anticipated Flitwick's charms lesson since his adventure in the forbidden forest. Hopefully, he could get some answers to his questions about magic without having to resort to scour the library for useful books.

"Please take out your textbooks. We'll have to study the theory of today's spell before we can try it outside. While I'm confident in Hogwarts sturdiness, I don't want to test its limits with miss-cast digging spells."

"Professor?" Harry asked, raising his hand.

The halfgoblin seemed surprised to be interrupted by him. Harry could understand, normally he was a rather quiet pupil in charms class. "Yes? What can I do for you?"

"I've got a question about wandless spells," Harry began as he wanted answers for the questions that had cropped up lately. "I'm not sure whether we did this already, but I had some experiences with wandless casting in the last time. I felt drained and physically exhausted after doing a simple lumos charm."

Ok, maybe he did exaggerate a bit, it had been mostly the dementors, Harry had to admit to himself, yet he needed to know what had happened in the forest. Meanwhile Ron and Hermione seemed surprised about his question, but neither said anything. Harry knew he'd probably have to answer questions later.

"Yes, yes," the charms professor said, hopping down from his book pile. "What you describe is the so called magic core," he stated, drawing gasps from some Ravenclaws and Hermione. "It's existence is controversial in academic debate, because it doesn't seem to affect wand use at all."

After taking a short pause he continued: "I'm not sure about the physical exhaustion, yet it is theorized that one needs a magical core to access the world's magic with a wand. It is not known whether wandcasting draws magic from your core, though if it does it is negligible."

"But what about the drain, the exhaustion?" Harry asked, still not sure what it meant for him.

"Spells and wands use the world's magic, however when you cast wandlessly, you don't really cast at all. You will something to happen, using your own inner magic - the magic from your core - to achieve the desired result. You can't do this unlimited, your own core can hold only so much magic."

"We actually lose our magic, if we're doing magic wandlessly?" a Slytherin - Harry didn't know him by name - asked horrified. "I was always taught using wandless magic is the sign of a truly great wizard."

Next to Harry his bushy haired best friend was frantically raising her hand. Maybe he shouldn't have bothered asking the Professor and just relied on Hermione's seemingly inexhaustible knowledge.

"Yes, Miss Granger?"

"Silious the Smart wrote that the magical core replenishes its magic with time," Hermione answered, citing a wizard Harry hadn't even heard of. "The time needed and the amount of magic a core can hold differs between wizards. Older books actually categorize spells by magical core drain."

"Very good, Miss Granger, 10 points for Gryffindor," Professor Flitwick praised. "As you see, you don't need to fear losing your magic, or most children would be squibs before actually going to Hogwarts. Accidental magic is wandless magic. The only difference is that accidental magic is instinctive, while normal wandless magic is done by conscious effort."

{The magical core seems to be the source of psionic energy.} the hivemind sent to Harry. {Yet the information from our code of life, which describes psionic effects, does not match the effects of your 'wandless spells'.}

Harry didn't know what to think about it. What Flitwick described fit to his own experiences, yet the hivemind didn't seem convinced. The swarm had used his psionic energy after all and if Flitwick described was true, it had drained from his magical core. Well, it obviously warranted research later. Maybe he could ask Hermione once he'd told her about his familiar, the swarm.

"Mr. Potter, did this answer your question?" The diminutive Professor asked, ripping Harry from his thoughts as he suddenly appeared in front of his eyes.

"Um… yes. I was just thinking," Harry began, the next question already on his lips. "If wandless magic comes from our core, where does our normal magic come from?"

Flitwick sighed. "It's a bit sad that I need to repeat this in a NEWT class, but I guess you were more interested in flashy spells in first year," the half-goblin said, causing the Ravenclaws and Slytherins to snicker. "We use the magic of Nature in our spells. All life emanates magic and our wands allow us to utilize it."

Harry blushed. He'd probably talked to Ron when Flitwick had explained that the first time. It wasn't his fault that the small wizard droned from time to time.

{This might explain magic,} the hivemind mumbled, obviously fascinated with the topic. {The swarm can't do this. Overmind, as soon as the hatchery is ready we need to investigate.}

If his teacher hadn't stood in front of him, Harry might have laughed. He hadn't thought his stoic hivemind could get this riled up about something. Apparently psionic abilities weren't supposed to work like magic.

"Thank you," Harry quickly said, wanting to avoid further embarrassment at the hands of his professor. "I guess that answers my question."

"I… I live to teach," Harry's quirky teacher grinned, hopping back on his book pile."Well, now that this important question is answered we can go back to the digging spell. Open your books to page 73…"

XXXHPASXXX

Harry was frustrated. Quidditch practices proved to be more of a hindrance than anything else. While Ron didn't vent his frustrations at Hermione, his abilities as a keeper decreased more and more with each day. The last day before the game he didn't even manage to stop one quaffle, which pushed the young Weasley into a mindless rage. Trying to vent his frustrations, Ron was barking at everyone and almost reduced one of the chasers to tears.

This was the side of his friend Harry could stand least. Why couldn't Ron just get his act together? Hell, the boy could really play, so that wasn't the problem. It was only his bloody confidence problem. He'd hoped it was gone after last year's success, yet it wasn't. He loved the Weasley family, they'd sort of adopted him, after all, but he really couldn't understand what they'd done to Ron. While the boy craved for acknowledgment he lacked the confidence to believe in himself.

Harry hated to lay down the law to his friend - especially when the youngest Weasley boy was moody - but he couldn't let Ron rip into his other team members and destroy the team spirit. Still, the result wasn't what Harry expected.

"I resign. I'm pathetic,"[1] was Ron's reply. Rage, unadulterated rage Harry had feared, expected. Apathy was a nasty surprise. His best friend was a walking Quidditch Lexicon, Quidditch was his life. He'd never expected Ron to just give up.

"No, I don't accept," Harry fiercely stated, unbelieving of his friends stupidity. "You're not pathetic!" Harry felt like shaking sense into his best friend. "You're the best keeper I know, when you're in form. Hell, I played with you all summer. Just get over it, or I'll need to fill you up with firewhisky until you're too drunk to be nervous."

"I can't help it", Ron sighed. "I wish I could. It's too late for you to find a new keeper, so I'll play tomorrow, but if we lose I'll resign."

Harry nodded, although he wasn't willing to give up on his friend. All through dinner he tried to boost Ron's confidence, yet it was for naught. Ron was too grumpy, and even Hermione's encouragement didn't seem to work. Harry knew he couldn't let it continue like this. Encouragement didn't seem to help at all, if anything it made the Gryffindor keeper feel worse. Ron wasn't even trying to believe in himself anymore.

"Merlin, I don't know what to do with him," Harry lamented to his bushy haired friend, sitting on their couch in the common room. Ron had already retreated to his bed, apparently wanting to brood alone.

Hermione nodded. "Yeah, I know. It's his lacking confidence, he's even more insecure than Neville in Snape's classroom."

"Do you know a confidence potion?" Harry sighed, staring down on his hands in despair, he knew it was pointless. "Maybe I should just mix felix felicis into his pumpkin juice," he pondered, suddenly smiling evilly.

"That's illegal, you can't do that," Hermione instantly protested. "I thought you didn't want to cheat anymore!"

{Unit Hermione Jean Granger follows the rule of her society loyally. She should easily integrate into the swarm,} the hivemind remarked, confusing Harry. Hermione was his friend, why would he want her as his familiar?

{I think she'd be honored, but I have other problems right now,} Harry replied, stalling the hivemind to concentrate on his other conversation. He'd really have to deal with the hivemind later.

Hermione looked a bit at him curiously, Harry should have expected it, suddenly spacing out in a conversation had to be odd. Remembering their topic, Harry grinned. "Yes, I know," he left a dramatic pause. "But if he knows there is felix felicis in his juice he can't possibly fail, can he?"

"It's still wrong..." Hermione began huffing. Then suddenly, she realized, foiling Harry's attempt to tease her. He really couldn't keep stuff from his best friend for long. "You mean he'll believe he took the potion, but he didn't? That might work... He is a good keeper after all."

Harry looked seriously at his female best friend. "Will you help me? I really don't want to lose against Malfoy.

Hermione nodded and they began to plan. That night Harry slept well, he finally knew how to manage the situation with Ron and was optimistic for tomorrow's game. When they came down to the great hall the next morning, the plan was ready to begin. Almost everything depended on Hermione. He wasn't sure how good the bushy haired prefect could act, but the only thing where she'd ever failed were the flying lessons. He was confident it would work.

The show started when he seemingly poured his luck potion into Ron's juice. Realising what Harry had done, Ron quickly took a sip, grinning at his best mate.

This was Hermione's cue to protest: "Don't drink that, Ron!"[2]

Meanwhile, Harry quickly put his bottle away. Yet as planned, both his friends had seen what he'd done.

"I don't think so," the redheaded wizard replied, quickly taking another sip.

"You don't need this, you're better than a cheat," Hermione protested, shooting glares to the side. Lavender Brown, a Gryffindor classmate looked as if she wanted to use the row to approach Ron.

"I suck," Ron declared sadly, taking another swig, "I need this, or we'll lose for sure."

"You don't suck," Hermione reassured him, not wanting to hurt her... friend. "but it's still illegal!"

The situation devolved from there with Hermione accusing Harry and Ron of irresponsibility and cheating. The two of them even had a little row before they all went to the quidditch pitch.

Yet when they arrived on the field, Ron was white as a corpse. It got better when it turned out the conditions were perfect. Clear weather, just as Ron liked it. It was almost as if he'd really used felicis. The Slytherin's best chaser turned out to be missing for some reason. Harry couldn't believe his luck and even Ron lost his doubts about the potion. The Gryffindor keeper regained his confidence.

To Harry's surprise his nemesis, Malfoy, was also missing, sick according to Ginny. On one hand the git certainly deserved it, but it really wasn't like the arrogant ponce. He'd never miss a chance to crush Harry, which was the likely outcome after yesterday's training. Something was fishy about this. Malfoy wasn't even in the stadium. Which didn't make sense at all... except if the Slytherin seeker had something better to do...

The game began and Harry had other things to worry about. The Slytherin beaters hunted him, trying to take him out of the game. Bludgers passed right and left of his head, making him duck and swirl in the air. He could barely concentrate on looking for the snitch. The strategy was obvious to Harry, it looked like they'd planned to use Ron's confidence issues to quickly decide the match. Distracting him, while the chasers scored was a good plan. Well, it would have been, if Ron had kept playing like the day before, Harry thought, a smug grin was playing on his face. Thankfully the Gryffindor keeper was playing in top form... It was almost unbelievable how a bit confidence could change his best friend.

No quaffle passed through Ron's rings. He saved one with the rod, almost falling off his broom, but somehow managing to keep afloat. Even Ginny was cheering afterwards, apparently burying her grudge. The Slytherin team was in disarray, Harry determined, but that was to be expected if one's strategy totally failed. If this continued he wouldn't even need to catch the snitch!

"Merlin!" The commentator exclaimed. "What happened to Weasley? Was the performance of the last Gryffindor trainings all a ruse, or did someone Imperius him?"

Stupid bastard, Harry thought. Smith was a little shit, but he had a point. Imperio might have worked to unlock Ron's keeper abilities. It even made Neville do a handstand. Well, it wasn't like Harry wanted to spend life in Azkaban, so that was no acceptable solution. He could only hope Ron's confidence would stay up after this game. He really didn't want to go through this drama again.

Suddenly, a surge of warmth shot through Harry's body, totally distracting him from the game. It was as if something opened, something bloomed in his mind.

{Overmind, the hatchery is complete}, the hivemind stated, instantly showing a picture of the finished building before his mind's eye.

The creature was a pyramid formed, breathing, fleshy thing. A strong heart was beating somewhere inside, sending fluids through the veins. There were five spines that looked like U-tubes, holding the structure up and offering entrance into the interior of the creature. Five teeth like bony protrusions apparently anchored the beast to the ground, preventing its small movements to dislocate it.

{The first Larvae will be ready in three hours, overmind...} the hivemind said, only to be interrupted by a yell: "Harry, what are you doing?" Ron shouted as he left his rings, flying towards Harry.

"Sorry, I was distracted," the young overmind replied, frantically looking around if he'd missed anything.

"Apparently, Potter has woken up, but it's cost Gryffindor," the stadion speaker Zacharias Smith said gleefully. Harry really couldn't stand that Hufflepuff ass.

"S'gotta be hell of a distraction," Ron muttered, only to curse as he saw a Slytherin chaser score another goal.

Harry didn't care, he'd just seen the snitch flying around the main ring. Ignoring his friend, Harry accelerated his broom and shot directly towards the rings. Once he'd seen it he couldn't let it go. Not if he wanted to keep his record as infallible seeker. The thing tried to hide behind the post, bringing the hard wood of the rings between them, but Harry wouldn't be hindered. Pressing himself down on the broom, he shot through the ring, only to make a 180 degree turn. He was almost thrown off his broom.

Meanwhile the Slytherin seeker had realized what was going on and closed in at full speed, while the snitch had moved into the center of the left ring. It was a close thing. The Slytherin Seeker was at full speed, while Harry needed to accelerate after his turn. It felt like he was only inching closer, while Harper, the Slytherin Seeker, was making yards with each second.

Harry needed to win this. Merlin, he'd even manipulated his best friend in an attempt to boost his confidence. He couldn't lose the snitch, or they'd lose. They were only leading with 50 points after all. Harry's heart was racing, beating like a jungle drum. He could look into Harper's eyes, see his opponent's determination. But then he was ready, almost pushing himself from his broom, his hand angling in the air. His fingertips touched it, feeling the buzzing of the snitch's wings.

They were going to collide. 'Fuck,' Harry cussed inwardly as he pushed himself off his broom. He felt a quick boost of elation, managing to grab the snitch, which only to turn into terror, when gravitation caught him in its unforgiving grip.

"Yaaaaaaah," the young seeker screamed as the ground approached.

Then something interrupted his fall, a quick pain like breaking his spine and Harry was floating in the air. Looking up Harry saw it was Ron, dangling down from the broom, while holding him at his slowly ripping quidditch robe.

"Mate. Are. You. Insane?!" Ron yelled out the fear he'd felt, slowly lowering the broom with his legs. "What the hell were you thinking?"

Harry didn't know how to answer. It was just instinct, seemed like the right thing to do seconds ago. Now, though, his heart was racing as if it wanted to burst. Ron had lowered him down. Feeling the grassy ground under his feet, Harry sunk to his knees. His head was throbbing as the adrenaline shock receded. He began to hear the shouts and cries of the audience and there was something nagging him in the back of his mind.

{Overmind, overmind}, the hivemind yelled in his head.

{Yes?} Harry sent absently, more focussed on his landing friends.

{Don't throw hivemind out,} it replied in a mixture of commanding tone and begging. {You can't do that. The swarm will end if overmind dies.}

{I wouldn't have died...} Harry sent somberly. This was pretty much the most dangerous thing he'd ever done on a broom.

"Harry, you've spaced out again," Ron said, shaking him. "Fuck, you can't rely on a potion like that, that's insanity. I wouldn't want to lose you for a lousy quidditch win."

"See, professor, he even admitted it!" A voice screeched from behind the two friends. "I told you he took felix felicis!"

Both Harry and Ron snapped around as if stung by an acromantula.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" The referee, was piercing them with her eyes. She took someone cheating at her game as a personal insult. They wouldn't get away with it, Madam Hooch planned to make sure.

"We didn't do it," Harry lamely replied, still in shock.

"Yeah right," the Slytherin behind Hooch sneered. It was an underclassman, Harry didn't know his name. "I guess the fame went to your head, boy-who lived. Seriously... our best players are missing! Weasley, Weasley of all people manages to hold all Quaffles and then Potter actually pulled that mad stunt with the snitch only to be saved by Weasley! That ain't natural, it's absolutely impossible!"

Ron was silent and grew whiter and whiter with each second. Harry, meanwhile, was too stunned to say anything. The world was still turning in front of his eyes.

"Well, if you thought you could cheat, the game goes to Slytherin. Both of you are banned for the rest of the season, no for life!," Madam Hooch decided angrily, screaming out the last sentence.

"I refuse," Harry blatantly stated. "Do you have any proof for your accusation? You're deciding on pure say so?!"

"Well, it's pretty obvious you're a cheater, Potter, just like your father," Harry heard Snape's sneering voice. "Feats of luck like these are an obvious sign of Felix Felicis."

The Gryffindor team looked worried. They'd thought this was a crushing victory and now this. Nobody said anything, but then Ginny stepped forward.

"Ron, what the fuck were you thinking? If you suck this much, you should have just resigned. Hell, we'd been better off without a keeper at all," Ginny yelled angrily at her brother, not listening to Harry's defense at all.

"Just shut the fuck up, all of you!" Harry yelled, rage was beginning to bubble within his soul. How could they just assume the worst of him again. How could they just assume Ron sucked that much? "This is second and fourth year all over again, you're all judging again before thinking, again!"

"The heir of Slytherin," Harry continued with a glare at Ginny. "The Triwizard cheater two years ago and last year the mentally instable attention addict. I think I've heard everything now. Apparently, rightful conduct only applies to dark wizards."

"Well, Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall began, barely able to suppress her rage, trying to wear a neutral expression. "Do you have an alternative explanation?"

"Yes, I have, and if one of you'd cared to listen I'd already told you." Harry said, glaring into the round. At least Ginny had the decency to flinch back. "Did you ever consider that both Malfoy and Vaisey were ill yesterday. Felix felicis is supposed to bring superhuman luck, I've never heard anything about time travel." Harry stated, but couldn't help to add fuel to the fire by sneering at Snape: "Or do you know something else, Professor? Care to enlighten us?"

"Talking in the royal we now? Your father would be proud about you, 20 points from Gryffindor for cheek," Snape shot back using any opportunity to further Slytherin in the house cup. Still the potions teacher had to admit with some reluctance: "There is nothing known about time affecting properties of Felix Felicis."

"Mate why do you defend me? I drank the juice, even after Hermione warned me not to," Ron sniffed downcast.

"Well, Potter, even your friends admits it, why are you still defending him?" Snape said scoffing. "Being the boy-who-lived won't get you out of every trouble."

Harry gritted his teeth. He so wanted to tell the slimy git what he thought about him, but that so wouldn't help in the current situation.

"Isn't it obvious? Ron, it's because you didn't take felix felicis. It was all your effort! There was no potion in the flask, it was pumpkin juice with a transparency charm," Harry sighed and said silently. "Sorry to deceive you, but I really needed to get your confidence up in a legal way." Then he added loudly, for everyone to hear: "If I really wanted to cheat I would have used a confidentia-Potion or a curse of overconfidence."

"Sure, Potter, trying to talk your way out of it," the Slytherin-squealer raged. "All confidence in the world won't help Weasley catch a Quaffle. We caught you in your cheating, you won't get away with it this time."

"How... stupid... are... all of you?" Hermione panted as she'd reached the group after a dash over the field. "It... it should be obvious he didn't use Felix, you 'caught' them after all."

"Mrs. Granger raises a good point," the Gryffindor head of house agreed. "20 points to Gryffindor for your good reasoning. If it was really Felix, Mr. Bunster here would have _conveniently _forgotten about the conversation." She shot a nasty glance at Snape, obviously not forgiven his attempt at sabotaging Gryffindor. "There is only one way to clear this up, follow me to the hospital wing. Poppi has analyzes charms and potions for cases like this."

"But...," the Slytherin student stammered in impotent rage. Snape was probably thinking the same, Harry figured, considering the man's balled fists.

"Holanda, I trust that you won't execute any decisions about this game, until we've gotten to the ground of this affair," Professor McGonagall stated as she began to stride of the field. "Everyone follow me please. I want this out of the way as soon as possible."

{The cerebration of most wizards seems defect,} the hivemind mumbled in the back of Harry's head, as he followed his teacher to the hospital wing. {The swarm should eliminate this weakness.}

If the situation hadn't been so serious, Harry would have laughed. The hivemind always wanted to improve people, maybe he should actually inform himself what it meant later.

XXXHPASXXX

[1],[2]: Quotes from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

XXXHPASXXX

**Well, another chapter published. Even if Harry avoids the stupidities of the original timeline he doesn't get away without a hitch. I hope you liked my own take on the Felis Felicitis incident.**

**Many people asked, so I'll just reveal the pairings. They don't matter all that much for the story, because it's not going to be about romance anyway. So here we go, it's Harry x Luna and Ron x Hermione. I hope you don't mind, but this story really isn't about the ships.  
**

**Anyway, I hope you liked the story so far. I'd be grateful for all reviews, so please tell me what you thought about this story or how I could improve it.**

**Thank you for reading.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Published: **18.01.2013

* * *

_Disclaimer:__ Elements of this story are copyrighted by other parties. My wallet complains, but I own neither StarCraft nor the Harry Potter franchise__. _

_If you thought I did, I'd love to know where you got that idea. Everything not owned by J. K. Rowling and Blizzard Entertainment (or whatever their name is right now) is owned by me._

**Warning:**** Harmonians should be aware that there will be some Ron x Hermione snogging in this chapter. :P**

XXXHPASXXX

**Part 5:**

"Harry, what really happened?" Seamus asked when the seeker and most of his team finally returned to Gryffindor tower. "We've heard you cheated, then someone said you were all banned from Quidditch for life... Many others thought he was full of shit though. But that was after you all went back to the castle. Nobody knows how the game really ended, are we supposed to have a party or not?"

The Gryffindors, always ready to have a party. While it was one of the traits Harry liked most about his house, right now he could understand someone like Percy - not that he cared about the git anymore. He was tired and stressed and only wanted to fall back on his bed.

"Yeah, you can have your party, but please let me alone for awhile, ok? Just ask the rest of the team," Harry sighed pointing at the others behind him. His ears were still ringing from the time when Ron vented his frustrations on him. He probably deserved it after deceiving his friend, but he didn't get the impression Ron was really cross with him. His trick had worked after all. They'd won the game and his two best friend finally got together. Right now they were probably in a broom closet snogging.

Harry was happy for them, but the whole affair had brought up many bad memories. He'd been judged again before he could argue for his case. Hell Hooch had almost banned him for life, without even checking the evidence. At least McGonagall had come through for him for once. But then she really wanted to win the Quidditch cup again. They'd treated him as if last year's ugly ministry propaganda was true. Hell if it wasn't for Voldemort and that he wouldn't see his friends again he'd say screw them all.

Maybe he was just jaded, Harry thought as he walked to his dormitory, ignoring the commotion around him. Adults weren't supposed to be useless, but even Dumbledore didn't teach him anything he could use. A sigh escaped the last Potter. At least two good things had come from the whole affair, Harry decided, thinking back to when Ms. Pomfrey had affirmed their story.

"I'm so sorry, Ron. I should have never doubted you. Merlin, I should have known better. We played all summer after all," Ginny had apologized to her brother, soothing that strange worry in Harry's tummy. She was his friend from the summer holidays again and not the alien strange harpy that had reduced his friend to the brink of tears.

And well, there was the romance of his two best friends, Harry recalled with a smug grin, as he jumped onto his bed. It was beautiful to see Hermione defend his best friend. Ron had really bloomed under her attention. Most likely Ron hadn't really believed him when Harry had told about Hermione's affection for him. But then they finally kissed. Ron had just hugged her, shy as he was, but Hermione used the opportunity to plant a long kiss on her newly acquired boyfriend.

It had really taken them more than enough time in Harry's opinion, but maybe it was for the best. Hermione would whip Ron's ass if he didn't do his schoolwork... and as his girlfriend she actually had methods to pressure him. Harry smirked at the thought. Meanwhile his best mate would get his best female friend to take it easier and have some fun. Well, it was good as long as they didn't break up, which was a prospective Harry didn't even want to consider.

Harry tried to spend his time with the Half-Blood Prince's book, but somehow reading the notes felt hollow today. It wasn't like he was really exhausted, sure the match and the aftermath was tiring, but not that much. It was still early. He just felt wary, like he really should be somewhere else. Sitting around moping wouldn't really help though. Harry put the book aside and stood up again. If relaxing on his bed didn't help, he might as well go out and party with his housemates. He just didn't like to be the center of attention.

Thankfully, his teammates had apparently explained the situation to his house, so Harry wasn't pestered with questions again. He missed his friends a bit, but drinking Butterbeer with Neville wasn't bad either. Maybe he'd really hung out too much with Ron and Hermione. They were his best friends, but they also were pretty much his only friends. Well, Neville and Luna should probably count... They went with him to the ministry and Harry forgot about them after the summer.

{The overmind can't neglect the swarm,} the hivemind chided.

"_It was right._" Harry thought. Maybe he should really learn more about his companions. Even if Neville was a bit shy and Luna was really awkward.

"Hey," Harry pointed at Neville's wand. "You've got a new wand. How's it working for you?"

"Better," Neville sighed. "Why didn't any one of the teachers tell me? I thought I was barely more than a squib and then, it turns out it was all the wand. Good thing Grandma wasn't at Ollivanders or he'd ripped off her head."

"If you have magic, you have magic. The only difference between us and say Dumbledore or Voldemort is the wand and skill. But with a fitting wand, it should be nothing but the difference in skill," Harry said, taking another swig from his Butterbeer bottle.

Neville shook his head. "You've forgotten the dark rituals... I'm pretty sure Voldemort has done... something to increase his power."

"He might," Harry had to acknowledge. "On the other hand that guy is an evil Hermione, so he might have just studied his ass off until he was the most powerful."

"Evil Hermione," Neville snickered. "That's a way to put it. But yeah... I can't believe I'm actually good at charms. Didn't you see it, I got the digging charm the second time."

"Not really," Harry shrugged, leaning back on the couch. "I was too busy getting it right myself."

"Yeah I saw it. You needed to get the scale right."

Harry only groaned as a response.

"It took Flitwick some time to repair the Quad." Neville laughed, remembering that particular scene. "How did you manage to overpower the spell like that?"

"No idea, it wasn't intentional. Anyway, you mentioned your grandma..."

"Well, it wasn't as horrible this summer as usual," Neville said with a sigh. "At least she told me she was proud about me and didn't just go on how my dad was better than me."

"Well, she doesn't hate you for your existence alone," Harry replied. "I think my relatives would be happy if I'd just died. They're the muggle analog to the pureblood fanatics. Hating all magic and stuff."

Giving him a wide-eyed stare Neville asked: "And Dumbledore left you in their care? I always thought they were poor or something, but I never figured it was something like that."

"Well, you're one to talk... It's not like he had much choice. Mom had cast bloodwards on me and those would only stay active in proximity of my relatives."

"Right... I guess the threat of the death eaters was too big then, but why are you still going there? Is there no other secure place?" Neville inquired and wrinkled his forehead. "What did you mean with '_I'm one to talk_'?"

"Well, it's not like the Dursleys tried to drown me, or kicked me out of a window," Harry said, recalling incidents Neville had mentioned some time ago. "To get back to your original question; there is another safe place, but as long as I have this protection nobody who intends me harm can touch me." Harry explained. "Crap, I probably shouldn't have told you."

"It's not like I'm going to tell Voldemort," Neville exclaimed. "I can't really say anything against the drowning. Uncle Algie is an ass. Yet he got me Trevor."

"More than I ever got from the Dursley's," Harry sighed, doubting that a toad was worth the murder attempts. "Better dead than squib or that's what he's thinking, right?"

"Most likely," Neville nodded, uncomfortable with the topic.

"Well that's horrible, but you certainly don't need to worry about it," the voice from a certain bushy haired girl came from behind. "Your performance at charms was great!"

Harry turned around to see a happy looking Hermione and a awkwardly grinning Ron.

"Good snogging?" Harry asked, grinning at his two friends.

Neville coughed. "You mean they've finally..."

"Yeah, they did. It took long enough..."

"Mate...," Ron said, trying to growl, but failing badly.

"He's just teasing us," Hermione said and grabbed Ron, to give him a long kiss.

"Weasley! Granger!" Richard, the senior prefect, shouted, grinning evilly. "Such ignoble behavior in front of impressionable first years... I'm disappointed. I fear I have to assign detention..." Harry saw that the prefect could barely hold his laughter, but looking at Hermione's shocked face he could tell that she obviously hadn't gotten the message. "You will kiss each other another time, but this time let everyone watch. We need to be an example for the young ones after all."

"Hey..." Ron protested weakly, but was drowned by hoots and demands for a repetition.

Meanwhile Hermione was still stunned. She certainly hadn't expected this to happen. Still... why should she care if everyone watched. "Ok," she said more to herself than everyone else as she turned to her boyfriend. Looking deeply into his eyes, Hermione pressed herself against him, flattening her breasts against his chest. Something was tingly nicely in her tummy, making her nipples feel stiff. Slightly opening her mouth, she closed in on Ron's.

Harry grinned. It was good to see his two friends so happy with each other. It almost looked as if they wanted to set a record for the longest kiss. On the other hand a certain green eyed beast roared in Harry's chest, he had to watch Dean snogging with Ginny. And he really wished that was him. At least he could be happy for his two best friends. People who could have spats for six years and still were best friends just had to be in love. They only needed to acknowledge it.

When they stopped, Ron grinned at the cheering crowd. "Now that you've watched your awesome keeper and his smart and beautiful girlfriend, you can go and find your own partner to contract the cooties."

Like Ginny and Dean, Harry though, gritting his teeth at the thought. Meanwhile other older years took this as an opportunity to snog their respective lovers. It wasn't fun for everybody. In case of Chris McGlenn a seventh year Gryffindor that turned out to be a bad thing, when his three lovers tried to kiss him. If he wasn't such a playboy Harry might have pitied him, but this way he felt pure schadenfreude as the guy got hexed by three enraged witches.

His friends were retreating, but there was something he had to do. "Ron, Hermione, wait a second. I have to tell you something."

"Sure," Ron said, as he plopped down on the couch right next to Harry. "What's up?"

"Well, you remember when I spaced out on the Quidditch field, right?" Harry began as he sat up.

"Yeah... I was wondering."

Harry nodded and continued. "And Hermione might remember I said something about looking for something against Voldemort..."

His bushy haired friend was only scratching her head confused, but Neville interjected. "You mean you've found something against you-know-who?!"

"Quiet," Harry whispered, looking left and right. "Yes, I've found something, and it seems like it's really going to pan out big time. Way bigger than I thought in the beginning."

"Harry this isn't secure enough, let's go somewhere else," Hermione said, deciding for the group.

XXXHPASXXX

"Be careful Ron," Hermione hissed through her teeth, when the Gryffindor keeper moved too abrupt.

The golden trio and Neville were on their way out of the castle. Harry had decided to trust Neville, he knew nobody else who combined the Gryffindor virtue of bravery and the Hufflepuff virtue of loyalty more than the shy boy. It was cramped under Harry's now cleaned invisibility cloak, they barely fit. And while Dobbie really had done a good job cleaning the cloak, it didn't become larger. Which was the cause of their current problems. While the cloak looked cleaner than ever before, the four teenagers barely fit under the fabric.

"Guys, keep your act together," Harry chided. "We only need 200 meters to be out of sight of the castle."

"It might be nice if you actually told us what was going on and why you needed this secrecy," Neville remarked from behind.

"Well, he probably has a good reason," Hermione said confidently. "This is rather unusual for you Harry."

"Ok, I'm going to explain, but please hurry," Harry sighed as he looked around and threw a quick glance at the marauders map. "Well, I'm not ready to take off the invisibility cloak yet, but I guess I can begin to explain."

"I can't wait for it," Ron laughed. "I thought you were just after Malfoy or something, but apparently it's something else... Please tell us your mysterious secret."

"I would if you wouldn't interrupt me," Harry replied annoyed. "Well, to cut it short I summoned a familiar."

"A familiar?" echoed Hermione, still walking behind her friend.

"Um wasn't Hedwig enough? I thought you liked her," Ron asked bewildered.

Neville was eerily silent, then he burst forth: "Seriously? A familiar? Not just a glorified pet with a loyalty and intelligence charm?"

"Is there a difference?" Ron asked obviously confused. "I thought familiar was just another term for a magical pet."

"Well, there were some insinuations in Hogwarts a history, but I thought those were just rumors spread by wizards aggrandizing themselves," Hermione said, stating her knowledge.

Neville snorted. "No, definitely no. You're right, the pet shops call their animals familiars, but they aren't. A real familiar is something else entirely, it's a supposedly lost magic that summoned a magical companion from the nether and bound it to the soul of the summoner."

"Yeah," Ron confirmed. "But I always thought it an embellishment. Archimedes was just an owl after all."

"Merlin, I just realize how little Binns actually teaches," Neville groaned. "Archimedes is famous for being such an unspectacular familiar. I mean there is Merlin, possibly the most powerful Wizard of all time and all he has for a familiar is a talking owl."

"Yeah, I've got to admit that's rather funny," Harry said, smiling to himself. "The ritual isn't lost though, well not really, not at Hogwarts."

"What do you mean?" Hermione sharply interjected.

"Well, do you think phoenixes grow on trees?" Harry laughed. "Where did you think Dumbledore got his pet from?"

Ron nodded. "Yeah, I always wondered about that since dad told me he had one. Phoenixes aren't exactly known to follow wizards. Until now, I thought it was because he is the leader of the light..."

"But being a familiar would also explain it," Hermione said, completing her boyfriend's sentence. "Where did you get the spell?"

"Just guess," Harry teased, knowing how to get a raise out of his friend.

"Dumbledore told you?"

"No..." Harry grinned to himself. "Another try, Hermione?"

"A vision from Voldemort?"

"Nope... I guess it would make sense with Nagini, but no."

"The library?"

Harry just shook his head.

"Damn, I have no idea."

Neville cleared his throat. "Maybe from your Black inheritance?"

Harry shook his head. "That's not it either. I haven't been to Grimmauld Place since... well since Sirius died," Harry sighed. "Try again."

"There is only one other option," Ron interjected with his own idea. "The room of requirement... it's also known as the room of lost things. Where else would you find a supposedly lost ritual formula?"

"And Ron has won our little game," Harry exclaimed as he pulled off the invisibility cloak. "This should be far enough. We're halfway to the forbidden forest."

"It was really the room of requirement?" Hermione asked surprised. "Well, damn... I should have known."

"Not really, I need to be good for something," Ron joked, grinning at his girlfriend. "Seriously though, mate, what did you summon for your familiar? Why did you bring us out here?"

"Oh... you didn't have Wrackspurts?" a voice said, scaring everyone in the group half to death. "I even brought a brailer to catch them."

"Luna!" Ron shouted. "Don't sneak up on us, I almost got an heart attack."

"Why not? Scares are good against bumbling bumpertingers," Luna remarked, waving her brailer around as if she attempted to catch something. "Can I come with you? I liked the DA, it was almost like having friends..."

Damn, Harry thought. He shouldn't have forgotten Luna like this. He had been busy, but that was no excuse. She'd risked her life for him in the ministry and he'd just forgotten her, left her like an old cleaning rag.

"Yes, of course, Luna," said Harry, inviting the unique Ravenclaw. "Come over. I was just explaining the others that I summoned a real familiar."

"Oh... like the tentacled monster of Ignoblus the Insane?" Luna inquired airily as she joined the group.

Harry nodded carefully. "Yes, I think so. He was mentioned in the book."

"Harry? Did you get your brains eaten like Ignoblus?" the blonde Ravenclaw asked, looking into Harry's ear. "No, it doesn't look like something has burrowed its way into your skull."

"No, I'm pretty sure nothing has eaten my brain," Harry shook his head shuddering. That could have happened?! He realized he could count himself lucky that the Swarm just decided he was its overmind. "I did summon some strange creature though."

"What? Come on Harry, don't just keep us in the dark," Ron complained, only to get poked by his girlfriend.

"Um, Luna, how did you find us here?" Hermione inquired, unsure how she felt about the Ravenclaw girl.

"I met Professor Hagrid to ask if he had any ideas for Snorkack traps," Luna replied. "But I'd like to know what kind of creature Harry summoned myself. Was it rabbitty Rabbit, the rabid rabbit?"

"I don't think so, Luna, I'm pretty sure it's not from earth," Harry began, not sure how to react to the blonde Ravenclaws eccentricities. "I summoned something called a drone and bonded it to me."

"A drone?" Neville echoed.

An incredulous expression was playing on Hermione's face. "A male ant or bee from another world?" she asked unbelieving.

Harry shook his head. "Not an insect, but something else entirely." He made a short pause, trying to sort his thoughts. "It's more like a worker ant, but it was really different. More like a floating lobster with an insect's mouth and carapace."

"This really sounds like a strange creature," Ron stated, as they walked closer to the forest, "but how is it going to help against you... Vol...demort?" Ron still had problems to speak the dark lord's name.

"Well, being a worker ant wasn't the creature's only function," Harry said, wondering how to explain it best. "It is the founding part of... I'm not sure how to put it, but it's both a race and a whole ecosystem."

What was the Swarm exactly? What were it's purposes before he became the overmind, Harry wondered.

{The Swarm strives to improve itself by assimilating other lifeforms and recombining their code of life to create superior swarm members.} the hivemind answered Harry's mental question.

Meanwhile Harry himself got a more differentiated answer from the swarm's genetic memory. An answer that both scared him and eased his conscience.

"Harry? Harry! You've spaced out again!" Ron almost shouted as he poked Harry to get his attention. When he got the attention of his friend, Ron continued: "Why are you always spacing out lately?"

"It's got something to do with my familiar. I've got a telepathic connection to it and more..." Harry began, only to be interrupted by his bushy haired friend.

"What do you mean, whole ecosystem?" Hermione snapped, "What the hell are you talking about?"

The young overmind sighed. "It's part of the Swarm, or... the Zerg." Harry wasn't sure where the latter name came from. "It's a race of creatures that are connected over a telepathic hivemind. They can assimilate other creature's code of life to improve themselves. It's mostly done by either killing them, or infecting them to bring them into the swarm."

"And you have something like that as your familiar?" Hermione asked horrified. "How do you stop it from killing people?"

"Yeah, mate, that really doesn't sound like a good idea," Ron added, siding with his girlfriend.

While Luna didn't say anything as she was playing with her radish earrings, Neville interjected: "Guys, it's not like Harry plans to become the new Voldemort or introduce a new species of monsters. There has to be something more about this, Harry's not Hagrid after all." Turning towards his friend, Neville said, "I guess you have some measure of control over this Swarm thing, considering it is supposed to be your familiar."

Harry nodded. "Not just some measure, it's really absolute control. Apparently, the way the familiar bond works depends on the creature."

"Um, Harry?" Hermione said, she obviously had a question now that the first scare was gone. "I'm not sure if my information is accurate, but the legend stuff I've read indicated that familiar bonds are only supposed to work on semi-sentient creatures. That hivemind sounds rather smart, really."

"Ignoblus's tentacle monster also grew rather smart after it had eaten his brain," Luna interjected seriously. "Some people said it was even acting like him, so maybe he became the monster, but it was hard to tell. The man wasn't named 'the Insane' for nothing."

That was a harsh judgement coming from Luna, Harry thought. On the other hand he didn't know what the man had done to earn such an epithet. Considering the way the wizarding world worked it couldn't be good, Harry thought as they'd reached the forest's border. He really just wanted to go to the hatchery and show of his swarm, but he still had a question to answer.

"You're partially right, Hermione," Harry said as he began walking directly towards the place where he felt his hatchery in the back of his mind. "Follow me and take out your wands. It'll take some time until we've reached our destination. **Lumos**. Ok, back to the topic. The drone I summoned wasn't really intelligent. Alone it was barely smarter than a dog, but when the familiar spell connected us, a hivemind formed."

"And it is using you and that drone as its hosts?" Hermione asked, thinking loudly about the implications when she lit her want. "**Lumos**."

"Yeah. Apparently it'll become smarter when the swarm grows," Harry explained, finding the path towards his hatchery again. "I'm not sure how to describe it. I guess one could call it a subconscious that can talk back. The hivemind sort of is the subconscious for the whole swarm."

"Ok, I think I understand," Hermione said, nodding to herself.

Meanwhile Ron shook his head. "I don't. What is a subconscious?"

"Yes, I don't know either," Neville backed Ron's question..

They didn't know? Harry was a bit surprised, but maybe he shouldn't. The wizarding world wasn't exactly up to the muggle science of the last 200 years. Sure, they could get the machines sort of work with magic, but that didn't mean they understood. But how could it be different with the pureblood fanatics running rampant?

"I guess I can explain," Hermione sighed. "I sometimes wish you guys would read more. The subconscious is the part of you that does stuff automatically without you actively willing it. I mean you don't will to breathe, you just breathe. You don't will to move every single muscle in your leg, you just decide to go somewhere."

After taking a short breath, Hermione continued. Neville and Ron still looked as if they hadn't understood it yet. With Luna she never knew. "Ok, look. The subconscious does everything you don't consciously do. Like instincts, like movements you've learned. I mean you don't need to think about the wand movement for Lumos anymore, you just do it. You didn't decide to be attracted to me, Ron, you just were, right?"

"I guess..." the redhead replied, not really comfortable with the place the conversation was going.

Hermione didn't see, thinking she'd found a good example. "Well... why for example aren't you attracted to Harry? He's your best friend, why don't you want to snog him?"

"Ewww..." both Harry and Ron replied, shuddering. Ron continued, almost yelling: "He's a bloke. For Merlin's sake, why would I want to snog him?!"

Ron just wanted to forget about this, but Hermione had smelled blood. "Why would you not want it?"

"Because he's a bloke?!" Ron said, really confused by his girlfriend. "Don't you like me?" He replied suddenly insecure in himself.

Hermione, not blind to her boyfriend's issues, interfered, giving him a quick kiss on the mouth. "Of course I like you, but that's what I was talking about. You can't decide who you like, because it's a subconscious instinct. With heartbeat it is different, there are some techniques to influence it, but it barely works," Hermione explained. "I certainly don't know them."

"Dumbledore likes men," Luna suddenly stated. She'd been silent so long that they'd almost forgotten her presence. "That's the reason why he took so long to interfere in the war against Grindelwald. Grindelwald was his lover."

"You're serious?" Hermione asked baffled, while Ron cried outraged: "Dumbledore is a poofter?!"

"It's not called poofter, Ron," Hermione said, chiding her boyfriend. "It's homosexual or better 'gay'."

"Yes Hermione," Luna said, ignoring Ron's outburst. "It's well founded speculation. Dumbledore didn't even kill him after their duel."

"Yeah, I guess he wouldn't kill his lover," Neville said, he was as confused as the others. He hadn't known that either. Was Luna serious, or was she searching for Snorkacks again? "Where is Grindelwald now? I always believed he was dead."

"Most british wizarding historians were educated by Binns and the textbooks end somewhere in the 19th century," Luna explained, showing that she wasn't in Ravenclaw for nothing. "Grindelwald has been imprisoned after his defeat at Dumbledore's hands in a high security cell of his prison Nurmengard. It seems to hold people better than Azkaban, but considering that minister Fudge was part of the Rotfang Conspiracy, it was to be expected."

"Makes me really wonder about Dumbledore..." Harry sighed, ignoring Luna's last comment. He was not happy to learn something like this about his great role model.

Hermione shook her head. "It shouldn't change anything that he's gay, Harry."

"That's not what I meant," Harry quickly said, leaning himself against a tree. "I never thought he was best friends or even lovers with Grindelwald... I wonder... that guy was a serious mass murderer. I wonder where Dumbledore got his no killing philosophy from."

"Maybe the phoenix," Ron guessed, rubbing his forehead. "I mean soulbonding to such a creature might explain a moral face heel turn."

"I wouldn't say face heel turn," Neville voiced his opinion. "Maybe they were just political allies for a while, but then their philosophy differed too much. I mean Charlus Potter was all but confirmed to be a member of the Knights of Walpurgis, before you-know... Voldemort took over."

"What?!" Ron said, almost shouting. "Your grandpa was a pureblood fanatic, Harry?"

"Wizard supremacy advocat... well, or fighter, I guess," Hermione interjected. "I did some research of my own. The Walpurgis Knights were Grindelwald's most loyal followers. I don't like the bastard, but Grindelwald certainly was no pureblood fanatic. He had serious issues with muggles though."

"Yeah, he almost caused another witch hunt after the second world war," Neville snarled. "His great muggle reduction strategy worked a bit too well. A little imperio or compulsion charm in the right place..."

"You aren't serious, are you?" Hermione gasped, but Harry was thinking pretty much along the same lines.

"I don't know if you know it, but in America they looked for commutists or something, not long after the war. They really looked for ways to get rid of their local wizarding community. The same happened in Germany during the Denazification," Neville explained, fascinating his audience. Maybe the timid Gryffindor should have done the history lessons instead of the boring ghost. "Not that those bastards didn't deserve..." Neville turned around, sniffing in the air. "What is that smell?"

Harry also rose his nose. Yes... there was something strangely sweet in the air. It almost stank, but not quite. A quite particular smell, Harry thought.

"What is this?" Ron asked loudly, pointing at something on their way.

Harry went closer and saw a purplish mass on the ground. It looked slimy. The only strange thing was that he could feel it somehow. It was almost as if he could control it.

{Is this purple substance part of the swarm?} Harry sent, asking the hivemind.

{What you see is creep. The swarm uses it for nourishment of the buildings and creatures, as well as a way to collect biomass, bioenergy and psionic-energy.} The hivemind explained.

That was interesting, Harry thought, but it didn't answer the most important question. {Is it dangerous?}

{The creep will not attack living things on its surface.}

"Harry? You've frozen again," Hermione said carefully.

"Did the wrackspurts get you?" Luna inquired.

Harry shook his head, as if shaking off something. "No, I was just communing with the hivemind. Apparently, this stuff is part of the swarm." Seeing the looks of his friends, Harry added: "No, it's not dangerous."

"Ok, but it really looks creepy," Ron voiced his reluctance.

Harry felt offended. Sure, his swarm took some time to get used to, but creepy? "Well, it killed an acromantula, so don't complain." Only after he'd talked, he realised it was actually called creep.

"Killed an acromantula?" Neville echoed, raising his eyebrows.

"Yeah, well, the drone did, when the stupid spider surprised us," Harry said, motioning his friends to follow him onto the creep. "It won't bite you and we're almost there."

"It grows, Harry," Ron said, pointing at the purplish organism.

"Yes, Ron, it does," Harry groaned, "but it won't eat you and it helped killing the nasty spiders, so what's the problem?"

Well the swarm did, but the creep was part of the swarm, so it wasn't really a lie in Harry's opinion.

"Nothing..." Ron replied, following his friends hesitantly.

"I think you can even eat it," Harry mumbled, continuing to lead the way.

Harry knew where to go. Somehow he could feel the hatchery with his mind and the closer he got, the stronger the feeling became. He knew he wasn't using his overmind abilities right, but with school and quidditch he didn't really have time to investigate. And he hadn't really cared. Other stuff had been more important in his mind. Well now he had to deal with his deficient knowledge and skills.

The group walked maybe five minutes in silence, looking left and right as if something was ready to jump out of the wood. Most of the trees had lost their leaves, leaving scary wooden skeletons. Yet there was still a bit foliage on some trees, which was promptly absorbed by the creep when it fell off. As he got closer to his destination, Harry could see that even the spruces and firs were losing their needles. Maybe it wasn't just the coming winter, maybe it was really the creep that was killing them, Harry wondered when he finally saw a purple hill gleaming through the dead forest.

He felt ready to break into a run, wanting to see his swarm again. But he looked around, the steps of his friends were fading. Harry's friends were deviating from the path.

"Guys, I've used some notice me not spells," Harry said, going back to gather the group. "You can't see our goal yet, but please don't use _Finite Incantatem _or something."

"So we should just grab on you and close our eyes and you lead us in?" Hermione asked, recalling the steps to get past a notice me not.

"Yeah, everyone just grab my hands," Harry commanded, grabbing both Neville and Ron. Each of the boys took the hand of a girl. His friends thusly secured, Harry slowly progressed past the line of notice me not charms. The barrier of fallen trees had somewhat shrunken, either the hatchery or the creep had eaten into them, but thankfully it was still big enough to keep up the charms.

"Open your eyes," Harry said, "we've arrived."

"Harry? What is this?" Hermione asked with a mixture of shock and awe, when she finally saw the hatchery in full view.

The thing was large, larger than Harry had expected really. Five impressive bony teeth anchored it to the ground, looking like framework for further growth. Five spines went up the pyramid-like structure, supporting it from each side, holding up the skin and covering the entrances into the interior. It's fleshy skin was moving, breathing, pumping as if it the structure was one giant heart or lung. The group could hear loud breathing sounds from the top of the fleshy form where they could see teeth-like bony protrusions raising into the air. Something irked Harry though, just like the drone the hatchery had a lightning tattoo on its side...

"What is this?" Neville echoed, as stunned as their mutual bushy haired friend.

Luna seemed fascinated."I like it. Does it have a name? I'd like to call it Lunosalar Grapumbla."

"It's called a hatchery, Luna," Harry mentioned absently. "Isn't is beautiful?"

"Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder," Hermione replied cautiously.

Luna shook her head. "Hatchery is a boring name. I like Lunosalar Grapumbla better."

"Um... Harry, what are those?" Ron said, totally ignoring their blonde friend as he pointed at a Larva in front of the five sided purplish pyramid. It was mostly carapace with small legs on its belly as well as a pair of dangerous looking mandibles.

"Tssssss," it hissed at Ron, showing it's writhing barbels.

Somewhere in Harry's mind an alarm appeared. The hivemind felt threatened. At the same time something akin to a map appeared in front of his minds eye, showing the positioning of the swarm members, the area of the perceived threat and a large field that Harry interpreted as creep. One of the three smaller units close to the bigger one was red... that was how it felt to Harry, and he concentrated on it. Suddenly, Harry wasn't in his own body anymore, but felt the ground against his skin, saw the world through weak eyes, while he raised his mandibles threateningly.

A large creature was pointing it's appendage at Harry, threatening him. It's two legs didn't look very strong, still it was better to be careful than to be dead. He knew his carapace was hard and strong and even though it shouldn't be able to hurt him, he wanted the beast gone. Another threatening hiss escaped him, trying to scare the creature away...

Its smell seemed kind of familiar, even if it was more intense than usual. Waving his barbels Harry analyzed it, only to realize what he was doing. He was riding a Larvae, and the creature was Ron and not really a threat at all. He was a friend. Thankfully, the Larvae hadn't attacked... Ron would have sulked for days. Concentrating on the swarm, Harry took the sensations and smells of Ron and designated them as friendly. The swarm would remember Ron as an ally and not an enemy.

Concentrating on the Larvae he ordered them to regard the other three creatures on the creep as friends too. Harry could also see himself on the map in his mind. Standing next to his friends there was a big blue pulsating blot for the overmind. The hivemind clearly thought him the most important, only followed by the hatchery.

Why didn't they just know his friends? Wasn't the swarm connected to his mind? Well, another question for the future, Harry thought. Now the others only needed to get into recognition rage of one of his Larvae and they would be secure from the swarm. He really couldn't have a scared Zerg bite Luna, Hermione or Neville. Thinking about it, he should make sure that they'd flee from humans and didn't kill them. He really didn't want people hurt or killed by his swarm if it was avoidable.

"...spaced out again Ron," Neville said, as Harry's consciousness returned to his body.

"I'm sorry, but I needed to make sure that the nice Larvae didn't bite you," Harry quickly explained.

From the look of his friends he could tell that they didn't exactly trust the small creatures. "Come on, they won't do anything to you." Harry saw that he wouldn't convince his friends with words. "Look," he said and lifted one Larvae up to his shoulder. They're a bit heavy, but you can pet them," he proceeded and slowly caressed the baby Zerg's underbelly.

The small creature purred happily as it rubbed its front part against Harry's cheek. The Larvae was obviously careful with its large pincerlike mandibles. It couldn't hurt its fragile overmind.

"Guys you can take one, too. I've made sure they recognize you as friends," Harry encouraged, while he played with his Larvae.

"Mate, you eerily remind me of Hagrid right now," Ron stated, looking at his best friend with as mixture of fascination and fear.

The young overmind shook his head. "No, Hagrid loves dangerous creatures that may just decide to eat you because they feel like it." He pointed at the Zergs around. "But these are mine, you can pretty much regard them as an extension of my mind. Now they're are as likely to eat you as I am."

"Are you sure?" Hermione asked, still more impressed by the looks of his swarm, than Harry's words.

"Do I need to fear for myself in the nights?" Ron laughed awkwardly.

Harry grinned. "Yes, your belly looks just... delicious." He licked his lips. "Hermione, look, his face."

"Very funny," Ron said, rolling his eyes.

"They look a bit like Snorkacks, you know?" Luna said, as she'd gone on her knees in front of one Larvae.

Smiling at his worried bushy haired friend, Harry explained: "Hermione, you don't need to fear them. I think I can even remote control them, if I really want."

"Look, it likes me," Luna happily exclaimed as she petted her purring Larvae.

"See, Ron, no reason to fear them," Harry said, taking his Larvae from his shoulder. "They might even go spider hunting for you if you ask nicely."

XXXHPASXXX

**AN: As you've probably guessed I've introduced the main crew of this fic. Harry, Hermione, Ron, Luna and Neville will be the main characters. Stuff will drift further AU from here on and some characters might get alternate interpretations, but I'll try my best to stay close to canon with these five. I can only hope I haven't screwed up Luna. She's really hardest to write right imho.**

**Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter. As usual I'd be grateful for comments, critic, advice or reviews. Thank you for reading.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Published: **25.01.2013

* * *

_Disclaimer:__ Elements of this story are copyrighted by other parties. My wallet complains, but I own neither StarCraft nor the Harry Potter franchise__. _

_If you thought I did, I'd love to know where you got that idea. Everything not owned by J. K. Rowling and Blizzard Entertainment (or whatever their name is right now) is owned by me._

**AN: ****I may have used too many Stats-blocks in this chapter. I guess I went kind of overboard when I wrote this. While I realized this when I edited the chapter, I kind of lacked the motivation to rewrite major parts of it. I hope you can forgive me for the info dumps. **

XXXHPASXXX

**Part 6:**

"Ok, I can see why you think they're useful," Ron said, now petting his own Larva. A ghostly glow was enlightening the clearing, emanating from a magical light that was hovering in the air. It had taken the redheaded Gryffindor long enough, but since he'd finally dared touching the small creatures, he was nuts about them. "I mean these Larvae can really mutate into any other creature of the swarm, including this gigantic thing?"

"Yes, they can," Harry affirmed, quite fascinated that his friend seemed to like the swarm as much as him, even though it took him some time to acclimatize. "I'm just going to see what Hermione does inside of the hatchery."

"Wait a second," Ron exclaimed, waving at his friend. "If they can morph in any form, why are they purple? That's a totally easy viewable color. If it wasn't for the notice me not charms we'd seen the hatchery from 200 meters away. Not to speak of the purplish goo on the ground... you called it creep, right?."

"You're right," Harry said as it was obvious his friend had a point. The swarm really wasn't very stealthy. "I guess I should check if there's something I can do about it."

{Hivemind,} Harry instantly began inquiring. {Can we change the coloration of the swarm creatures?}

{Not yet, overmind. The swarm needs an evolution chamber before we can begin.}

The young overmind mentally sighed. {What a pity... Well, there's nothing to be done yet, but can we limit the spread of creep?}

{The hatchery is the origin of the creep and controls it, but as far as the hivemind can tell it has already reached its maximum expansion.}

Well, that was somewhat reassuring, Harry thought. Still, what was this creep anyway?

/Creep: Zerg life form that spreads from hatcheries.  
/Function: Nourishment for Swarm units; mass and energy generation.  
/slowly channels ressources  
/Generates biomass by consuming dead and immobile lifeforms  
/Generates bioenergy  
/Generates psionic energy

Interesting, but it meant he couldn't just forgo it. There was something that worried Harry. Consumption of immobile lifeforms didn't sound good. If he read it correctly, the hatchery would kill the forest. I would certainly explain the dead conifers on their way.

{Hivemind, the creep needs to spare the immobile lifeforms, they're our only cover and a risk if they fall on the hatchery,} the young overmind decided.

{This limits further expansion. The small blade-like lifeforms die inevitably when the creep spreads,} the hivemind declared.

{You mean grass?} Harry inquired, sending a mental picture to the hivemind. {You can ignore that.}

{Yes, overmind. The creep will disregard these lifeforms. The hivemind will transmit and monitor your orders, overmind.}

Harry shook his head to get out of his dreamy overmind state. "Ok, I'm back in reality."

"Well that's great," Ron said, still petting his Larva. "So, can you do something about the colors?"

"Not yet," Harry said, shaking his head. "I need an evolution chamber first. And then I need to experiment... Nothing to be done about it for now."

"Ok, well that's bad."

Looking around he saw Luna and Neville trying to play hide and seek with the Larvae. The Larvae proved to be better than them though.

"Guys," Harry shouted to them. "You need to cast a hovering charm on yourselves, or the Larvae can feel you over the creep."

"Tsssss!" The Larvae protested, stupid overmind had told their secret.

"Thanks, Harry," Neville shouted back, quickly casting said charm at himself.

Neville still sucked at transformations, yet now that he had a new wand he was almost prodigious at charms. He was sometimes even quicker than Hermione, admittedly that was to be expected after five years of somehow making an unaligned wand work.

"Neville? Can you help me please," Luna asked, but Harry went away into the hatchery to check was his best female friend was doing.

"I'm sorry, Grubby, but I need to go with your overmind and see what my girlfriend does," Ron apologized to the Larva as he stood up. "Mate, wait a second."

When Ron had caught up with him, they entered the hatchery. The fleshy walls were pulsating around them, emitting a strange luminosity. Harry could see fluids flowing through red, green or blue veins. Still, neither he nor Ron felt cramped. The tunnels were big enough for Drones to pass, leading to the center of the living structure where Hermione was standing.

"Hermione?" Harry poked his friend, who was vacantly staring at the fleshy ceiling.

She flinched, looking around shocked. "Harry? Ron?"

"Yeah, it's us," Harry smiled. "Have you found anything interesting?"

"Well... there's the pool," she pointed at the greenish pool in the center of the cavern. "It's bubbling strangely, almost like a potion, I didn't want to touch it."

Now it was Harry's turn to flinch. "Smart decision, very smart decision," he said as he'd just been hit by another instance of swarm memory. "It's not a potion, but a highly corrosive acid. The hatchery uses it to deconstruct stuff into its mineral parts, biomass and bioenergy. You really don't want to stick your hand in there."

"Yeah," Ron affirmed. "I really prefer you with two hands..."

"No need to panic," Hermione growled. "As I said I wasn't stupid enough to try washing my hands with the stuff. Anyway, Harry what does this thing actually do?"

Harry focussed his mental sight on the hatchery:

/Hatchery information:  
/Function: Stores ressources, stores DNA from the overmind, breeds Larvae.  
/Hit points: 1500  
/Armor: 1  
/Control: 2  
/Breeds 3 Larvae every 3 hours.  
/Bio Energy spent/day: 1,5 giga standard energy units.  
/Expected Bioenergy collected/day: 15,4 gseu  
/Bio Energy: 11 gseu.  
/Biomass: 3 tons.  
/Psionic Energy charge: 30/100 pe

"Um... apparently it stores ressources, breeds Larvae and is supposed to store DNA from me," Harry repeated for his friends. "I've no idea how the latter is supposed to work, but I guess that's what I need the evolution chamber for."

"So what are these growing... things?" Hermione asked, pointing at the cocoonish things under the ceiling. Thick veins transporter fluids into them, pulsating with the beat of an unseen heart. Harry could actually watch them grow.

"I'm not sure if they're more ugly or more fascinating," Ron stated absent-mindedly.

"As far as I can tell that's where the Larvae are bred," Harry said, getting a bit tired again. "Come on lets go out, we don't want to neglect Neville and Luna."

"Sure, lead the way," Hermione said and followed Harry holding hands with her boyfriend.

When they were outside, Harry called the rest of the group together. "Guys, I think we've played around enough. I'll need to expand the swarm now."

"Ok, so what are you going to do?" Neville inquired, carrying one of the Larvae.

"Morphing drones, I guess," Harry said, eying his larvae. "But I don't really know my options..."

The latter was an easily fixed problem. Focussing on one of the drones, the young overmind accessed its stats with his mind's eye.

/Larva information:  
/Basic unit of the swarm.  
/Hit points: 25  
/Armor: 10  
/Energy consumption: Eats creep  
/Morphs available: 2  
/Drone: 22 hours normal; 7 hours speed; 45 minutes emergency.  
/Overlord: 45 hours normal; 19 hours speed; 2,5 hours emergency.

That was certainly interesting, Harry thought. Apparently the Larva had a really strong carapace. Way stronger than the drone. The interesting part was something else though. It was the morph to overlord. As soon as he thought about it Harry knew the overlord was an intelligent unit used by the swarm to coordinate the lesser ones. He could give creature tasks and it would coordinate its subordinates to fulfill it to as well as it could. The great thing about them was that they were capable of learning and could even share their knowledge and skills over the hivemind.

Still, there was another big question. What did the Larvae need to morph?

/No crystal structures and vespeene geysers detected,  
/Drone:  
/Normal morph: ~22 hours; 300kg biomass; 40mega seu bio energy; 0 peu psionic energy.  
/Speed morph: ~7 hours; 350kg biomass; 100mega seu bio energy; 0 peu psionic energy.  
/Emergency morph: ~3/4h; 800kg biomass; 700mega seu bio energy; 20 peu psionic energy.  
/Overlord:  
/Normal morph: ~45 hours; 600kg biomass; 7m³ water; 300 mega seu; 0peu.  
/Speed morph: ~19 hours; 700kg biomass; 10m³ water; 900 mega seu; 0peu.  
/Emergency morph: ~2,5 hours; 1ton biomass; 20m³ water; 4 giga seu; 80peu.

The cost really increased if one sped up the morphs, Harry realized. But now he knew what to do.

"Neville, Luna, I need your Larvae now," Harry said, planning his swarm's evolution.

"Can I take this Snorlarv back to hogwarts?" Luna asked, cuddling her Larva.

"Bemused by her antics, Harry shook his head. "No, Luna, they die if you take them off the creep for too long."

Luna pouted, but then she nodded, apologizing to her baby Zerg: "Sorry, Delami, but I can't take you with me."

"Well you still have some time. There is something we have to do first," Harry said.. "I just realized I didn't have enough water stored in the hatchery. Could you all cast some water charms on the creep? It'll absorb it. **Aqua Eructo**!"

If it hadn't been that cold, this would have been the beginning of an awesome water-battle. Sadly, it wasn't to be since nobody wanted to visit the hospital wing. He needed a great amount of water, but, thankfully, magic was willing to provide. Some other _Aqua Eructos _and _Aguamentis _later, Harry felt he was ready, to morph his first Zerg.

"Ok, everyone step back please," Harry said, motioning his friends to join him. "I'm going to start the evolution."

"I wonder how it'll work," Neville remarked, sounding interested. "Will they grow like plants? If it wouldn't breathe all the time I'd think the hatchery was one."

"The hatchery formed a cocoon when it was growing," Harry said. "But I think the creep is a plantish thing, well, fungus or something."

"Or something, I think," Neville replied. "It doesn't feel like any plant I know."

"It's otherworldly biology," Hermione snorted. "What did you expect?"

The shy Gryffindor shrugged, obviously not keen on an argument with his bushy haired friend. Harry took that as agreement. He wanted as many drones as he could, but he knew he was too busy to order them around, so he definitely needed an overlord.

"I'll start now," Harry announced as he concentrated on his Larvae. "Two normal drones and a speed morphed Overlord are coming."

The Larvae quickly crawled towards the hatchery under the fascinated gazes of the five friends. When they were in position, maybe a meter away from the outer skin of the swarm headquarter, they curled and bit into their own tails. Three feelers or tendrils were coming from the hatchery, touching the Larvae and initiating another process. Their carapace began to dissolve and formed the core of a growing cocoon.

Two tendrils were rather thin and Harry saw that there were veins in the creep that lead to the hatchery. They seemed to transport the majority of nourishment for the cocoons. Meanwhile, there was the tendril to the third cocoon that seemed to Harry more like a high pressure hose.

"Ok mate," Ron said after they'd watched the pulsating cocoons for a minute. "What are we going to do now? Do you plan to leave them like this, or do you want to put up some defences?"

"Do you think the _notice-me-nots _and Hagrid's animal wards aren't enough? I even used muggle repelling ones."

Luna interjected airily. "Why do you want to keep snorkacks away, but not acromantula?"

"What do you mean?" Harry said, worried about her insinuation.

"Well... acromantula are wizard killers, bred as defence for vaults, I believe," the blonde Ravenclaw said. "If you could distract them with a simple notice me not, or maybe muggle repelling charm they wouldn't be very useful, don't you think?"

"Oh... that's why you asked Flitwick about wards," Hermione exclaimed, remembering their last lesson. "But centaurs aren't animals and they're not exactly muggles either... they do have some strange form of magic."

"Um... do you know some wards?" Harry asked, sure that his friend had read. "Flitwick said I shouldn't research it because he'd discuss them later this school year."

"Maybe we should try some physical deterrents," Ron suggested, while his girlfriend was still thinking. "Let's just use the digging charm. Centaurs can't really get past trenches and walls."

"We could also use Illusion charms, barrier charms and the unbreakable charms for Ron's walls," Hermione suggested, but then her expression darkened. "Your swarm seems really nice. They are destructive to the environment though and I don't really see how they're an advantage against Voldemort."

Harry shook his head, she couldn't be serious! She'd played with the Larvae, visited the hatchery and still thought like this? "The swarm can do wandless magic. Why did you think I could become the overmind?"

Hermione looked stunned, both Neville and Luna gaped. Ron was doubtful: "Are you serious? These larvae can do magic? Apart from their morphing they looked rather mundane. And it wasn't really a transformation, more a muggle thing."

"Thought connections are _not _a muggle thing," Harry said, rubbing his forehead. Sometimes Ron was really a bit naive about everything outside of the wizarding world. "Mate, you're sixteen years old and not fully grown. Growing up within a day is bloody impressive for a creature larger than you are."

"It's not just their value as soldiers," Neville said, thinking loudly.

Luna enthusiastically agreed. "Yes, they can search Snorkacks all over the world and only tell Harry once they've found one."

"Or deatheaters... good idea Luna," Ron said, smiling at their blonde friend. "If they're really magical, they can maybe just break through or ignore wards. You'd need to test that."

"I'm not sure, but the swarm is like a plant where you can control which fruit grows..." Neville added further thoughts.

Looking at his studious friend, Harry begged. "Please don't tell Dumbledore. He'll tell Snape and the order and then in some mysterious way either the ministry or Voldemort will know." Harry saw the doubts on Hermione's face: "Remember what happened with Lupin."

"Yeah, the git hates Harry and if this gets to the ministry it'll be mad Potter and Buckbeak all over again," Ron said, assisting his best mate, while hugging his girlfriend reassuringly. "I don't want to think about you-kn... Vol... demort. The creatures are Harry's familiar, there's no way to tell what the bastard could possibly do if he got hold of them."

"Ok, ok," Hermione raised her hands. "I forgot about Snape... and human nature."

"It's an alien, kill it," Luna said sadly. "That's what happened to Ignobulus' tentacle monster in the end. I'm sure it didn't mean to eat the villagers, they were just in its way."

The young overmind sighed, suppressing the need to yell. It was a drag to defend the swarm against his friends. Well, more like against Hermione's rule abidingness. "Luna, the swarm isn't going to eat someone I don't want it to. I don't think anyone here would mind if I had them eat Lestrange."

"But you'd kill them!" Hermione said horrified by the prospect.

"Well yeah, it's kill or be killed. I don't know why they just stun these murderers, sentence them to prison and let them be broken out again," Harry groused, suspecting Malfoy senior wouldn't stay in Azkaban for long. "And on the other hand they gave out kiss on sight orders on Sirius even though he didn't even have a trial. Bellatrix was rightfully sentenced." Harry balled his fist at the thought.

"That's because Malfoy owned the Fudge administration," Neville explained sighing.

Luna nodded eagerly. "Voldemort really hurt the Rotfang conspiracy when he appeared in the ministry, especially since Malfoy managed to get caught. Now nobody can ignore what is going on anymore. On the other hand it's not like anything has been done against the supporters. They're the largest faction in the ministry after all."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, the blonde Ravenclaw had caught her interest. "You mean the Voldemort supporters are the largest faction in the ministry? Why do they still need Voldemort and his insurgency army?"

"There it is, Hermione," Neville interjected. "An Insurgency means a war and in a war only a fool stuns their opponent - You don't stun, you kill them. That's what they do to us after all." He paused to take a breath. "But no, the death eaters are not the army of the pureblood supremacist faction, or Rotfang conspiracy as Luna likes to call them."

"He's right, Hermione," Ron reluctantly admitted, rubbing his girlfriend's back. "Not all pureblood fanatics support Voldemort. I never understood why the Blacks or Malfoys did."

Neville nodded, "Yeah, Voldemort just wants to become tyrant or something. Most pureblood supremacists think it's more convenient to legally get their agenda through the Wizengamot instead of supporting a power hungry madman."

"Dad says they were actually succeeding in the Wizengamot," Luna agreed and continued to elaborate the situation, "That's why he invents those silly names like Rotfang conspiracy. He fears they'll do something to me if he openly prints the truth."

"That's probably a smart decision," Harry said, remembering his 'trial' after Umbridge's dementors. "Makes me kind of wonder, why he printed my interview last year."

"I asked him to, obviously," Luna calmly replied, reminding the others how that interview had happened. "And well, he figured your enemies wouldn't really know how to react. They don't take dad seriously anymore." Then the blonde girl smiled sadly, "He's not quite the same since mom's death."

"I'm sorry," Harry said, garnering nods from the group as turned around to face his bushy haired friend: "Did we convince you that the swarm is the lesser evil? I really don't want to lose my swarm at the hands of an overeager ministry."

"Yes, alright," Hermione admitted, looking down. "I won't tell anyone, but please be careful."

Harry was relieved. He really didn't want to do anything to Hermione, but he also couldn't risk his swarm. Thankfully, nothing drastic had been necessary. Now they only needed to use some security measures.

"**Lumos Maxima**," Harry commanded, enlightening the forest around them.

"Now that this problem is solved we should start implementing the security measures for the hatchery. Ron, Neville, can you dig a trench, wall barrier thing? I think maybe a hundred meters around the hatchery would be good," Harry said, asking his friends for help. "Luna do you know any reinforcement spells?"

"Yes, but what am I supposed to do?" The eccentric ravenclaw asked. "There are no Snorkack cages for me to reinforce."

Motioning her to wait a second, Harry told Neville and Ron: "Guys just begin here and dig it somewhat circular around the hatchery in the center."

The two boys began casting their digging charms, reminding Harry of something he'd forgotten. It was the path at his feet. Quickly shouting over the sounds of their spells, the young overmind said, "but please spare this path. Hermione and I are going to ward it." Then he nodded to Luna, pointing at his other friends' work: "You see them leaving a dirt wall on the inside? It would be nice if you could charm it so it won't collapse or slide back into the trench."

Luna nodded and began to walk after the two boys, regularly shooting strengthening spells and something that sounded like **Erecto **at the earthen walls. They became higher and thinner and then arrested in their form. Meanwhile Ron and Neville were taking turns, each digging another part, after the other's spell had run its course. Each of the three wizards had a witchlight following them, providing the light to see where they were going as it was hovering a meter over their heads.

"Ok, Hermione," Harry said, turning to his book-loving friend. "Do you have any ideas? I've read about _Salvio Hexia_, but that's only supposed to turn away hexes. Does it work against finite incantatem?"

"Thankfully, it does," Hermione agreed and elaborated, "or it would be rather useless, considering it's supposed to protect campsites. One unspoken finite and you could just _incendio _the tent or something." Thinking a second she suggested: "Well, there is _Protego Totalum_. It leaves a physical shield in an area."

"Yeah... I thought about it, but isn't that used for an area and doesn't leave anything through?" Harry inquired, remembering a passage from their charms book. "The drones need to get out. We really need a charm that keeps creatures with hostile intent away."

"Well... there is _Repello Inmicum_, but it depends highly on your intent and magical source," Hermione said. "I think it's a siege level spell that's supposed to be maintained by powerful ward stones. Hogwarts a History says Hogwarts has one that can be activated by the headmaster and his deputy, if there ever should be a need for it."

"I guess we could use the hatchery, it doesn't really need its psionic energy so far," Harry suggested, thinking loudly.

"Psionic energy?" Hermione echoed. "What do you mean?"

Harry sighed and explained. "It's the swarm's term for magic. The hatchery somehow generates it, but I haven't yet found out how."

"Ok... We're five people, so it might work. It's not like the wand movement is that complicated," Hermione said. "Merlin, when we're done this is going to be a fortress."

"If you think so. We have the notice me not, a muggle repelling charm, an animal ward, Hexio Salvia and the Repello Inmicum," Harry summarized. "Though we still need something to conceal the entrance after we're done."

Hermione grinned evilly. "I know a good illusion spell. A really good one. Once I'm done, nobody will be able to find the entrance."

"Right, do your magic, I'm going to put the other wards on the walls."

"Um... can you make sure we can notice them this time. It might actually be important."

Harry only nodded, agreeing by himself as he went to bewitch the earthen walls around his swarm's breeding ground. While going on with his work he could actually watch the creep reconquering the walls, after it had been destroyed by his friends' merciless digging. It seemed somewhat strange that the hivemind hadn't alarmed him, but apparently it had either gleamed the reason for the destruction from his mind or that level of creep destruction wasn't seen as threat.

Magic really made things easier, Harry realized once again as he saw his friends' work. They'd created the barrier at marching speed, fast than he'd expected, considering that he couldn't see them anymore. Apparently, both Neville and Ron were hurried for some reason. He shouldn't let them wait, Harry decided and fired off his protection spells even faster.

It took him maybe ten minutes until he saw his friends again, standing in front of the wall. The path had disappeared, dissolving into nothingness 20 meters away from their position. Either they'd accidentally surrounded the whole district with a wall, or Hermione really had come through with her promise. Harry suspected the latter.

"Oh... there you are," Harry was greeted by his bushy haired friend. "We were talking about the defenses and decided we shouldn't try Repello Inmicum yet," she said, getting to the point. "That spell can go horribly wrong. If we really want to try it everyone should know his or her part perfectly. "

"**Realitatem videre**!" Hermione added, revealing the path for Harry again.

"Hi to you, too," Harry replied, "I guess it's ok, the _notice me nots _worked so far, so they should continue to work." Maybe the acromantula could ignore the spells, but the wall and everything might make even the large spiders think. Clearing his throat Harry addressed his friends: "Thank you, everyone, you've really helped. I really couldn't have done this without you."

"You're welcome, Harry," Ron yawned and the others agreed with him.

Hitting her own forehead, Hermione suddenly cussed. "Fuck, it's almost curfew and we have to go on our rounds in half an hour!"

XXXHPASXXX

**Authors Note: ****Thanks for all your great reviews for the last chapter. It's really nice to know that people actually like my story ;) I'd also like to thank those of you who supplied ideas for the advancement of the swarm. I can't believe I forgot about the seas as a mostly muggle and magical free zone.**

**Nonetheless it'll take a few chapters until the swarm will see action for the first time and even more to be employed against a certain Dark Lord. There were numerous questions about integration of humans into the swarm. Yes it will happen and it will be a major theme of this story. It won't happen in the near future though. I think everyone that has played StarCraft 2 knows what the hyperevolutionary Virus does and that it is not a reasonable way to achieve integration. Hell, I doubt it was ever meant to do that. It seems more like a Zombie Apocalypse Doomsday weapon.**

**The evolution chambers will be the main instrument for the swarm's advancement. The original drone only had the most basic plans to start a Zerg colony and a bit of fragmented genetic knowledge. Without further developments in the evolution chamber the Zergs are able to construct following units and structures: Zerglings, Overlords and Drones, as well as the structures evolution chamber, spawning pool and hatchery.**

**Thank you for reading my story. I'm grateful for all your comments and try to answer them via PM.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Published: **01.02.2013

* * *

_Disclaimer:__ Elements of this story are copyrighted by other parties. My wallet complains, but I own neither StarCraft nor the Harry Potter franchise__. _

_If you thought I did, I'd love to know where you got that idea. Everything not owned by J. K. Rowling and Blizzard Entertainment (or whatever their name is right now) is owned by me._

_Thanks to Janet for betaing this story._

**AN: I may have had too much fun exploring Harry's new mentality in this chapter. I apologize for the reduction of the pacing. The next chapters should have more action though.**

XXXHPASXXX

**Part 7:**

"That was close," Harry said to Neville, after they'd returned to the common room. "I wonder how he knew someone was there."

They'd ditched Luna with Ron and Hermione as the two had to begin their prefect patrolling duty. Afterwards, they'd somehow managed to run into their mutually most hated teacher.

"I guess Snape really has a sixth sense for missing students or something," the shy Gryffindor sighed, shaking at the thought of getting caught by their evil potions teacher. "Do you think there is a way he can see through invisibility cloaks?"

"He shouldn't," Harry replied. "The only thing that could was Moody's eye, but maybe he's using some sort of surveillance spell."

"Yeah, maybe," Neville said, slumping down on the next free couch. "I can't believe he almost got us."

"I can't believe I actually was envious of Ron's prefect-job last year."

Neville nodded. "Yeah, it's definitely more work than it's worth. I guess it's nice if you need the attention, but I prefer lazing around here, than catching firsties on the floors."

"Me, too..." Harry began, then he remembered something. "Um... Neville, I'm mulling over something you've mentioned. Earlier you said something about factions in the Wizengamot, but what are those apart from the pureblood supremacists?"

"You don't know?" Neville asked surprised and continued after Harry shook his head. "Well, I guess the muggles wouldn't have known. Everyone probably just assumed..."

"Yeah, the bloody boy-who-lived would know, living in his magical castle in the clouds as he was. Do they think I'm Santa Claus or something?"

"Well, someone earned good Galleons with selling books about you, or rather 'the-boy-who-lived'," Neville replied, leaning back on the couch. "About the factions, there also are the wizarding supremacists, their radicals pretty much follow Grindelwald's philosophy, while the moderates are Dumbledore's stoutest followers. They've really shrunken over the course of the last 50 years. Most of the radicals went over to Voldemort. He wouldn't just talk, you know."

Harry snorted disdainfully. He nodded though, motioning his friend to continue.

"The second biggest faction in the Wizengamot are the liberals," Neville continued his explanation, grabbing a glass from the table and cleaning it with a spell. "Grandma was a member with them, but when the faction sided with the purebloods to elect Fudge after Bagnold retired, she left. Fudge campaigned to end the Death eater cleansings and although she'd warned her companions, they desired peace more than justice. I don't know what they were thinking, you can't create a more equal society by letting your mortal enemies go. Maybe the aurors went a bit over the top, but still..."

"Yeah, I get the point."

"And there is the last faction, the progressives. They're the smallest of all factions and pretty much contain the few muggle borns who actually managed to get into the Wizengamot. They have to do it on their own merits, after all. The progressives try to reduce discrimination against other muggle borns, improve relations with the muggle government and allow real technomagic. They're not only muggle borns, but as you can guess they've no chance to gain a majority for their agenda," Neville explained rolling his eyes.

"I can imagine," Harry snorted, "Progress in the wizarding world? Good joke. I mean they actually consider Mr. Weasley their foremost muggle expert. I love the man, but he's collecting primitive muggle artifacts as a hobby... Anyway, what did you mean with: they actually got into the Wizengamot?"

"An Order of Merlin automatically gets you a place on the Wizengamot. Everyone else is grandfathered in on hereditary seats," Neville explained as a yawn escaped him. "Say, Harry, did you already do your charms homework? I want to make some progress before going to bed."

"No, I kinda waited for Hermione... Although considering how our two lovebirds were going she might actually forget it," Harry laughed at the thought. "Not really... but I'd love to join you nonetheless."

Afterwards, the two boys did their homework together. Writing essays was way more fun if the writers were on the same mental wavelengths. Hermione always wanted to help, yet she was too systematic, too research oriented. Ron on the other hand was very intuitive, using more genius than research and honest work to get rid of his homework. Harry was neither of those extremes. While he didn't love research, he wasn't confident enough to just trust whatever popped into his mind. That worked for Ron, but both Harry and Neville had a different learning strategy. A strategy that worked well together, the Gryffindor boys found out.

That night, Harry actually completed his essay. Doing this efficiently was actually kind of fun. Maybe not as much fun as Quidditch or hexing Malfoy, but fun nonetheless. The boys had missed dinner again, yet it didn't really matter. One call for Dobby and they had a bigger meal on their tables than they could have enjoyed in the great hall. It really paid to have a house elf for a friend, Harry thought, as he munched the meal together with Neville.

When Harry went to bed afterwards. Ron and Hermione hadn't yet returned, which was somewhat understandable as they had a double shift. Something with the Ravenclaw prefects, they would tell Harry the next morning.

Just when Harry had donned his pajamas and lifted the covers on his bed, the Gryffindor boy was reminded of his overmindly duties again.

{Overmind,} the hivemind sent, suddenly contacting Harry as he was sitting down on his bed. Seconds before Harry had felt a strange sensation in the back of his head. {Three new Larvae have hatched, do you have any new orders?}

Yes… they hatched every three hours, Harry remembered. While he'd known about it, he hadn't really considered its relevance.

{You said that the overlords can control the swarm members. That implies you need several. What is the limit for one overlord?} Harry inquired as he snuggled deeper into his covers, curious to learn more about his swarm.

The hivemind didn't answer directly, it just sent the information to his minds eye.

/Overlord  
/Function: Provides control, provides transport, provides environmental information.  
/Hit points: 200  
/Psionic Energy 0/50  
/Armor: 0  
/Attack: 2  
/Speed: slow  
/Storage space: 6 storage units  
/Control: optimum 8 units, maximum 12 units.

{I guess that means I shouldn't have it control more than 8 'units',} Harry sent to his mental companion. {Can you morph one overlord with this batch and the next two? Please morph the rest of the Larvae into drones.}

Harry felt something akin to happiness emanating from the hivemind. {Yes Overmind, the swarm will execute your orders.}

Harry slept well this night, dreaming sweet dreams of Ginny.

XXXHPASXXX

The next day it turned out that Harry's recent absences hadn't gone unnoticed. McGonagall asked him to stay after her transformation lesson.

"Mr. Potter, I can understand that you feel cooped up in the castle, but remember we're not doing this for the fun of it. You especially should know the dangers of the current situation. The whole wizarding world is in conflict. Although Hogwarts is somewhat of a safe ground, that doesn't mean its wards are impenetrable as you know very well," McGonagall began her speech as soon as the last people had left the classroom.

The Gryffindor student looked tortured. "Yes Professor, but…"

"But the castle isn't a fortress or a prison," McGonagall continued seemingly completing his sentence. "Azkaban is and the Death eaters still managed to break in and break their followers out. Hogwarts is neither and I'm very aware how certain elements among our studentships are politically oriented."

"So why aren't you doing anything against Malfoy and his ilk," Harry groused, hating to see the Slytherin ponce get away with his shit.

"The Hogwarts charter dictates that Hogwarts is an institution neutral to the political situation in the wizarding world," McGonagall explained sighing. "We can't act against it or the governors will shut Hogwarts down. As long as we can't prove they did something wrong personally, we can't expel the Death Eater's children. Mr. Potter, Harry, please be careful."

Harry was somewhat flustered that his stern teacher was worried. Although one could sometimes think McGonagall didn't care, it wasn't true as one could see when she did something like this. He didn't like that they watched him, although it was nice to know the teachers cared. Well, except for Snape. The man still couldn't tell the difference between Harry and his father. His father might have been an asshole, but the way their current defense teacher treated him, Harry couldn't help to feel that it was deserved prior revenge.

"Yes, Professor, I'll try," Harry said, nodding in acknowledgment. "But you know danger has the unfortunate habit of finding me, even when I don't search it out."

"Just promise me to be careful," the Gryffindor house teacher asked, sighing at her pupil's antics.

"Alright professor, I'll be careful," Harry quickly agreed. Remembering something his face distorted, "I need to be on my way if I don't want to lose points with Snape, again."

Saying his goodbye, Harry ran towards the defense class. Although Snape sneered at him, the man didn't find any reason to take points from Gryffindor. Dumbledore had most likely forbidden him to take points for loud breathing. Apparently, that frustrated the evil teacher so much that he felt like taking Harry as his special guinea pig for class session again, making it his personal quest to ruin Harry's mood for the rest of the day.

"Why the hell does he always need to pick me for his _'practices'_?" Harry complained bitterly to his friends afterwards. "I'm so sick of it. I wish I could just drop him in the hatchery's pit."

"Mate, don't take him seriously," Ron replied, sneaking in a kiss to his girlfriend. "I'm not sure why you actually care about anything the man says. Just ignore him."

Harry snorted, shaking his head, as they went to the great hall for lunch. "Easy to say for you. It's not like you were the target of his spells. I can only hope the curse stays true," Harry muttered darkly.

Ron only shrugged, deciding to ignore his best friend's bad mood. Hermione's lips were more interesting, certainly more that Harry's perpetual moodiness. He couldn't help his friend anyway, so there was no use dwelling on it.

Harry, meanwhile, had a hard time standing the presence of his best friends. It had always been annoying when they'd bickering, but the snogging and hand holding was growing to be an even bigger annoyance. It seemed like they had grown together at their hands. While Harry had somewhat expected this for over a year, he was still overwhelmed when they finally got together. Now the only time when Harry actually managed to talk to his best mate was when Hermione had her Arithmancy class. Hell, if Ginny weren't with Dean... A long sigh escaped him.

He'd declared this week a non training one, allowing his players to catch up with their homework. Harry, himself, was starting to regret it, though. He had nothing to do and no opportunity to meet Ginny. Neville was busy in the greenhouses and he couldn't find Luna at all. Bored as he was, he finally found himself under Madam Pince's depreciative gazes in the Library. The conversation with Neville last night had made him think. Harry had to acknowledge he knew barely anything about the wizarding world. There was the ministry, Hogwarts, Diagon alley, Gringotts and Hogsmeade. And although he knew it all worked together somehow, Harry had no idea how.

Mustering his courage, Harry spoke to the viperish librarian: "Um... madam Pince?" He began, only to be pierced by a venomous stare. He hoped she never tried an animagus transformation, it would be a Basilisk for sure. "Could you recommend a book about the wizarding society? I'd like to know more about the world we live in."

"Yesss..." she hissed, making Harry wonder if she spoke parseltongue. "I suggest 'Wizarding Power' by Abraxas Malfoy. The man really knew what he wrote about."

Malfoy... while that certainly wasn't a name Harry had expected, he knew that the ponce's family somehow had to have acquired their wealth. Remembering the librarian, Harry said: "Thank you Madam Pince, would you mind helping me to find the book?"

"Row three, shelf E," the grouchy librarian barked. "Don't damage the book, or I'll reskin it with your tanned hide."

If only for the sake of his own sanity, Harry decided to ignore the latter comment as he went to the shelf. Picking up the book, he quickly left, not wanting to spend any more time under the watchful eyes of the librarian than absolutely necessary.

Sitting on a couch in the Gryffindor common room, Harry realized that it had been a smart decision to ask Madam Pince. Although the waspish woman was about as sympathetic as Filch, she'd really done him a favour this time. Malfoy may have sneered at Mudbloods, Squib filth and blood traitors, but he really had a clear view of the wizarding world and a very easily readable style. Reading the first chapter of Malfoy's book, Harry had learned more things than in five years history of magic. It was actually scary, if he thought about it. The few things he'd actually remembered from Binns lessons indicated that the wizards had won the Goblin wars, Malfoy corrected that assumption.

The truth was the wizards actually lost the last two wars. Sure, in the end neither side had capitulated, but the wizards had certainly lost by points. Which sane society would let their occasional enemies rule over their monetary system and wealth? It was pure insanity. If Harry read the subtle hints correctly, the old Malfoy even suggested to bank with the muggles, not that he really put it into words.

Harry was so consumed by his literature that he forgot the time. It really surprised him when the hivemind called around six o'clock: {Overmind, the overlord has hatched and asks for instruction.}

{Did it fly away?} Harry asked worried. It was dark outside so nobody should be able to see it. Harry's problem was that all wouldn't matter if the large airship like creature passed any ward lines. The castle defense had been improved against the death eater threat.

{The overlord is hovering a hundred meters above the hatchery,} the hivemind explained. Harry recognized a certain impatience was in its mental voice. {Overmind, you should access the information the hivemind automatically provides about the swarm}

Ah yes, his mental eye, Harry remembered. He'd forgotten about it again, but there it was and now that he concentrated on it Harry realized his mental map was way more accurate. He could actually 'see' the forbidden forest from above. He, himself, was in the structure somewhere at the edge of the map, and while the hivemind was able to triangulate his exact position, it hadn't managed to integrate Hogwarts itself into the map.

The really interesting information was something else, though. His mental eye also showed statistics about his swarm.

/Swarm Members: 23; Sapients: 2; buildings 1; morphs 5; 15 larvae; others 0  
/Swarm Psionic Energy: 100  
/Swarm Bioenergy: 23 gseu  
/Swarm Biomass: 200 kg  
/Morphs in progress: Drone, Drone, Overlord, Drone, Overlord.  
/Overmind Hitpoints: 1  
/Overmind Armor: 0  
/Overmind Melee Damage: 0-1  
/Overmind Psionic Energy: 45/45, access to natural psionic energy.

"Fuck!" Harry loudly cussed, drawing in strange looks by his housemates.

Although he had an idea what probably happened, Harry still made his inquiries with the hivemind: {Why did you morph three overlords, when you only morphed three drones?}

{The Overmind ordered to morph three overlords, one with each wave of larvae, and to morph the rest of the larvae into drones. The swarm had only enough resources for two overlords, so the hivemind ordered one drone instead.}

Harry sighed. This sucked. Sometimes the thought processes of the hivemind were truly alien to him. {Please inform me the next time I issue an order that can't be fulfilled with the resource level.} Harry sent, trying to mask his disappointment. He'd really thought the hivemind smarter.

{The hivemind acknowledges your mission, Overmind}

Now that this problem was solved, Harry concentrated on the map in his mind, almost totally blanking out the world around him. While it had been an abstract thing before, determined by the information transmitted through his creep, it was something else entirely now. Almost like a video in his head, only that he could see more. He could still glean the tactile information from the creep, but the map showed so much more. He could see the trees and the creatures moving among them. The overlord sorted them into animals and potential threats. The large silk strands of the acromantula colony were visible at the borders of his closer vision and a lone centaur entered his parts of the woods, only to retreat after a short while, still too far away from his colony to view the creep.

The overlord was impressive, Harry thought. Although it was pretty much useless as a weapon, the tactical information it provided was almost unbelievable. He knew Ron would instantly fall in love with the large beast. As for himself, Harry couldn't wait to see one in life either. The information he'd gathered from the hivemind didn't exactly give him an exact mental image of the beast, considering it was mostly technical information and the overlord couldn't see itself. That didn't really matter right now though. It was there, it was supposedly sentient and he could use it to look to scout out his two biggest potential problems.

Focussing on the feeling in his mind that represented the overlord, Harry mentally sent: {Hello, I'm Harry. Who are you?}

{Hello Overmind, I am Overlord.} The great beast replied.

Overlord, Harry mulled. Didn't it have a name? Maybe he should give it one, it certainly had intelligence. On the other hand it would suck if he would actually forget their names.

{Overmind, the swarm does not forget. You only need to draw the knowledge from the swarm,} the hivemind interjected, reading his thoughts.

Well that solved one problem, Harry thought. {Overlord, I name you Adalbert after a great wizarding theoretician.}

{Adalbert... Thank you Overmind... Adalbert.} The overlord replied, testing its new name.

{Adalbert, I have a mission for you,} Harry sent, returning to his original reason to contact the overlord. {Can you scout the acromantula colony in the east? That's where you can see all the webs. I need to know the extent of the colony, their numbers and potential threat level. Please stay above the forest and return to the hatchery before sunrise. Hide below the tree level once the sun has risen so nobody will spot your existence.}

{The Overlord... I can do that,} Adalbert accepted its overmind's order.

{Great!} Harry sent back happily. {The centaur herd is supposedly in the west. Hiding before sunrise and avoiding discovery in general is your priority, but it would really help if you also managed to gather information about them.}

{Overmind... the Ov... I have an question,} Adalbert the overlord reluctantly began. {I understand you made a point of stealth. Does this command only apply for me or all other Overlords?}

This was actually a good question, Harry realized shocked. The overlord was actually thinking ahead! That was really sentience, not just the strange semi-thing the hivemind did.

{You're right. This command indeed applies to all other overlords for now.}Harry agreed, and elaborated for his conversational partner: {I want to keep the swarm a secret as long as possible.}

{I know, overmind, I have access to your memories,} the overlord stated, adding further explanation. {Our minds are open in the swarm, or how do you believe am I capable of speech?} Adalbert asked rhetorically, amusement was playing in its mental voice.

Harry sighed. {I didn't think about it at all and I'm not sure how I feel about all of this.}

{Yes... there is this strange human notion called privacy,} Adalbert commented neutrally. {Although it probably makes sense for a society, privacy is utterly counterproductive in a collective.}

{That's a great explanation, but it doesn't solve my problems,} Harry complained, miffed that the newly born overlord had more use of the swarm connection than him.

Now it was Harry's turn to feel a mental sigh from Adalbert. {Accessing the memory of the swarm, the hivemind, is instinct for a Zerg,} the overlord explained, using the strange term for the swarm. {Overmind, you were not born into the swarm, so your mind needs time to adapt. The swarm is not yet ready to really integrate you, so you need to learn this process.}

{I think the adaptation has already begun. I sometimes just know stuff,} Harry admitted, feeling better about the whole thing now that he understood what was going on. {I don't want to interrupt you anymore. Please do your job and tell me tomorrow what you've found out.}

{I live to serve the swarm. I'll hurry, so I can see the little ones.}

After the conversation with his overlord, Harry went down to the great hall for dinner. Both Ron and Hermione were already there, waiting for him. He couldn't tell them about the swarm there. The Felix Felicis affair had made him wary. On the other hand Ron and Hermione obviously weren't in the mood for politics, holding hands and sneaking in kisses when they thought nobody was watching. Well, he didn't want to interrupt their young love. Most likely they'd be back to bickering with each other soon enough.

Both Ron and Hermione had no time to play games this evening. Even Hermione had procrastinated with her homework, which was a first in Harry's opinion. Considering the worried looks she was shooting at Ron, it was a first she didn't like much. Harry was pretty sure it wouldn't repeat. It was amusing though, yet if he knew Hermione the next dates of his two best friends would be in the library.

It had one advantage though, he could use the time to play chess with Neville. Playing against Ron was no fun, the youngest Weasley boy always managed to trash Harry. Playing against Neville was another thing entirely. Like him, Neville wasn't able to predict more than five moves in advance, which made their games both challenging and fun.

Having herbology the next morning, Neville had to go to bed early. Ron and Hermione seemed still busy, both writing their essays and doing lovey dovey things. Shrugging to himself, Harry followed Neville up to the common room and went to his bed to continue reading the Malfoy book.

There was so much interesting information in the book. Like the fact that the British wizarding society was extremely isolationist in their economic policies. Which really was a thing he should have guessed already, Harry realized. Seriously, who banished foreign transportation methods on general principle? Flying carpets were way safer than brooms after all. Malfoy called it mercantilist economic policy and claimed that it isolated Britain from the rest of the world.

Although he disdained the economic policies, in the end it wasn't enough for Abraxas Malfoy to tolerate a muggleborn minister. Harry had learned from Hermione about Nobby Leach and Malfoy's supposed involvement in the plot to get rid of him. It couldn't be proved of course... Harry had to grin about that. Lucius probably was the disgrace of his family tree. Getting chucked into Azkaban, so unworthy for a Malfoy.

When Harry went to bed that night, he was rather frustrated by the information he'd gleaned from his book. Apparently, the wizarding society had crippled itself for over a hundred years. Total economic protectionism, a parliament that was incapable of really making new laws and a ministry where the senior bureaucrats were barely removable. The minister had the real power and he always was a member of the bureaucracy. The originally political Chief Warlock was reduced to the position of a glorified welcoming clown.

It really was no surprise that Voldemort could assemble such an army. The ministry certainly did nothing to solve society's problems and the factions in the Wizengamot were so hopelessly divided that almost no laws could be created from the wizarding parliament. Malfoy described the situation of his pureblood faction in detail, showing how they had practiced politics by influencing personnel decisions in the ministry. Suddenly, taking over society by brute force made way more sense. It actually made him wonder why Voldemort was the only one who'd ever tried.

{Overmind, the drones have hatched,} the hivemind remarked, distracting Harry from his reading.

{Good. I'm glad they're finally ready,} Harry sent back, wondering why he always had these conversations in his bed. {They're supposed to gather some biomass, yet I want to try assigning them myself.}

Harry knew he needed to train his overmindish abilities, but that wasn't the real reason why he planned doing it himself. Since the triple overlord accident he'd lost his trust in the hivemind. While he could talk with it and it would execute his orders, the hivemind did this without thinking. He obviously needed to be the overmind himself and couldn't leave the work to the hivemind. If you wanted stuff done, you needed to do it yourself. What a drag, Harry sighed.

Still, he had something to do. He really needed biomass, and he could only get it by having the drones lumber in the forest. However one thing was sure, Harry thought. they couldn't be allowed to screw up. Far too much depended on it.

Concentrating on the map in the back of his mind, Harry designated two areas - maybe 40 meters in diameter each - within his walled breeding ground. It was the drones first priority to clear those areas of trees. In case they should be done before he was ready to give a new order, Harry issued that the drones should remove every fourth tree in a large forest area between the centaur herd and the acromantula colony afterwards. Its exploring ability really made the overlord was useful. It saved Harry from making major blunders.

Still, knowing the full extent of the giant spider's nest horrified Harry. He didn't understand, how Dumbledore could allow a monster colony exist so close to the school? Hagrid was insane. For gods sake, there was something like a acromantula city in the forest. Ron and he hadn't even been in the center and from what he could tell the large beasts almost bred as fast as his Zerg.

Admittedly, they needed longer to mature, but in the end that didn't exactly matter. Harry knew he'd need to be really careful that the monsters didn't get wind of his swarm before he was ready. Otherwise, it would end up as a good snack for in between. Hell, he wasn't even close to the point where he could defeat them. Nonetheless, he needed biomass. He really had no choice, Harry sighed. He could only hope his instructions would keep his drones safe from harm and out of the Hogwarts' wards. They were specific enough that even the hivemind shouldn't get them wrong.

Thankfully, he didn't need to rely on it anymore, he had another option. {Adalbert,} Harry sent, calling his overlord. {Please make sure that the drones follow my instructions.}

{The drones are currently under control of the Hatchery, but the ov... I will supervise the execution of your orders.} It acknowledged, following its course to explore the centaur herd from the sky.

{Thank you, Adalbert.}

That done, Harry remembered the unused Larvae. If his luck was staying true, the hivemind wouldn't just morph them once it had enough ressources. No, it would just do nothing. He'd have to issue another task. {Hivemind, please Morph the Larvae... the currently existing Larvae into drones as soon as you have the necessary resources. Once these Larvae are morphed, morph an overlord from the next batch of Larvae and begin to store bioenergy and biomass.}

{Yes, overmind, the hivemind will execute your orders}

He could only hope it would, Harry thought warily. He knew he couldn't go on like this. It was time to explore the abilities of the hivemind a bit more. Looking at the map in his mind he could see his Drones moving around as a pair, working in the part of the woods he'd ordered to be cleared. Meanwhile the overlord was still moving on its course and the Larvae crept around on the creep close to the hatchery.

Remembering his experience with the Larva, which felt threatened by Ron, Harry decided to repeat it. Experiencing the different creatures would really help him understand the swarm. Harry focussed his mind on one of the drones, remembering the last time as he quickly slipped his consciousness into its body. Harry suddenly felt his wings flapping as he watched the tree falling in front of himself. He screeched eagerly, happily fulfilling his task. Harry's companion felt the same way, and together the two drones began to attack the fallen tree, cutting sizable pieces out of the trunk that they gathered in their pincers.

Harry felt himself returning to the hatchery, proudly carrying the wood between his pincers. He didn't have any problems seeing in the dark. The moonlight that shone through the clouded sky was more than enough for the young overmind. He'd already realized he wasn't really a drone, nonetheless it was interesting to feel like one. As he'd thought, he easily fit through the entrance of the hatchery. After throwing his piece of wood into the pit, Harry paused his drone for a moment. It plumped into the watery fluid and was quickly dissolved by the acid. Good thing that Hermione hadn't tried to wash her hands in this stomach acid, Harry thought.

Disconnecting from the drone, Harry snapped back to his own body. His limbs suddenly felt heavy as tiredness overtook his mind. Putting his book aside, Harry snuggled under his covers and closed his eyes.

XXXHPASXXX

**Authors Note:**** I hoped you liked this chapter even if the pacing was a bit slow. I can promise you that more stuff will happen in the future. This is my first fanfic so please bear with me if it has a few flaws. I can fix a few smaller things in the future chapters, but I'd really have to revise many of the chapters I've already written, which is sadly impossible with tests coming the next weeks. I figure it's better to have a few slower chapters than no chapters at all. Or maybe it's just my perfectionism that wants to have more tension in the story :).**

**Anyway, I hope you're all right with the way I handled the relationship of Harry's friends. I was rather annoyed ****by**** the drama in book six, but I figure it should be mentioned. ****I'll probably publish the next two chapters together. That way you'll have some more explanations as well as action :). Thank you for reading this story. Please tell me what you think about it, comments/reviews really are a writer's motivation.**


	8. Chapter 8 & 9

**Chapter Published: **08.02.2013

* * *

_Disclaimer:__ Elements of this story are copyrighted by other parties. My wallet complains, but I own neither StarCraft nor the Harry Potter franchise__. _

_If you thought I did, I'd love to know where you got that idea. Everything not owned by J. K. Rowling and Blizzard Entertainment (or whatever their name is right now) is owned by me._

_Thanks to Janet for betaing this story._

XXXHPASXXX

**Part 8:**

Snow was swirling against the icy windows once more# when Harry awoke the next morning. It was only November, but with each day Christmas came closer. Overnight a snowstorm had painted the world peacefully white. Although Harry had always loved snow, it turned into a problem this morning.

{Overmind, Overmind,} the hivemind frantically yelled into Harry's mind as soon as he awoke. {The energy generation has been reduced drastically!}

{How? Why?} Harry replied, still tired and not up to the things.

{The snow has covered the creep, which severely impacted our energy gathering ability.}

{How much?} Harry asked confused as he didn't remember any lack of bio energy.

{The energy production has halved to 7,7 gseu/day}

Harry groaned, saying loudly: "So what the fuck is your problem?"

"Um mate?" Ron said, tapping on his friend's shoulder. "What's going on."

Harry quickly shook his head. "Um... nothing really. Sorry, I just got up on the wrong side."

"Okay," Ron said, raising his eyebrows. It was clear that the youngest Weasley didn't believe him.

"Later, okay?" Harry quickly replied, waving Ron away. "I have... something to do..."

Ron nodded and retreated from the dormitory. Turning around on the doorstep he shouted: "Harry, please hurry or we'll have breakfast without you."

Ignoring his best friend, Harry mentally snarled at the hivemind: {How is this a problem? I wasn't even close to using all that energy.}

{It stifles the expansion of the swarm}

Harry felt the need to groan again. What was he supposed to do? Tilt earth's axis, so that his creep would get more sun? Seriously though, it couldn't hurt to check his swarm.

/Swarm Information:  
/Swarm Members: 26; Sapients: 2; buildings 1; morphs 20; larvae 9; other 3  
/Swarm Psionic Energy: 150  
/Swarm Bioenergy: 28 gseu  
/Swarm Biomass: 34300 kg  
/Morphs in progress: Overlord, Overlord, 18x drone.  
/Units:  
/Overmind: 1  
/Hatchery: 1  
/Overlord: 1  
/Drone: 3

It really didn't seem like the bioenergy generation was a problem. It had actually grown since he checked last time. The problem was something else entirely, it was the fact that his biomass was somewhat limited. He'd managed to gather way more than that amount of biomass in half an hour, when he'd prepared the hatchery. There had to be a reason they'd only collected so little biomass.

{Hivemind, is there any reason why the drones stopped collecting biomass?} Harry inquired as he started to dress for the day.

{The hatchery can't store more than 34300 kg of biomass.}

Yes, that would explain it, Harry thought. The flesh pyramide was large, but it could store only so much matter. He should have suspected something like this.

{Can you increase the storage space?} Harry asked, hoping for a solution.

{The hatchery can't evolve until you've bred an evolution chamber.} The hivemind explained.

An evolution chamber. Every time he had a problem he got told it was the solution. There was no reason for him not to produce one. Still... he needed another clearing for the chamber. And considering the small amount of biomass stored the clearing most likely hadn't been done yet... Harry sighed again and concentrated on the map in the back of his mind. He was wrong. To his surprise he found two clearings, and a stockpile of wood in front of the hatchery.

{Adalbert!} Harry said, opening a thought connection to the most likely source of this surprising work effort. {Did you finish those clearings?}

{Yes, my Overmind, I thought it prudent to have the drones finish your priority tasks.} The overlord replied. Harry could feel that the large creature was worried about his reaction.

{Thank you, it was a great idea,} Harry praised his minion to alleviate its concerns. It was great that he didn't have to do everything on his own. {It's not like the biomass will be reduced in this weather.}

{It is my joy to serve,} Adalbert said, allowing Harry to feel his satisfaction.

Meanwhile Harry was exiting his dormitory and his two best friends were already waiting for him.

"Come on, mate, I'm hungry," Ron said, pulling Harry to the portrait tunnel.

Harry was a bit angry at himself as he went down to the Great Hall with his friends. He should have ordered the metamorphosis for the evolution chamber before he left dormitory. Talking with his friends and walking was too much for him at once, if he also wanted to fulfill his overmindly duties. The same was true when he had breakfast. He didn't want to space out there, it would be impolite to his friend and might make the teachers curious. Something Harry wanted to avoid at almost any price.

Only afterwards in Potions had Harry found the time to relax and focus on the swarm. Since he had managed to convince his bushy haired friend of the Half-Blood Prince's book, her brewing skills had improved even further. She'd taken the time to research why the Prince's recipes worked better and was correcting the textbook to Slughorn's delight. Harry was rather grateful that the potions master had found a new pet student, being uncomfortable with attention as he was.

Sure, Slughorn was still impressed by his brewing skills, but it was not the same as Hermione's pure academic power. If anyone was going to reinvent the philosophers stone, it was her. At least Slughorn seemed to think so. Not that Harry would have bet against her, challenging Hermione that way only made her want to prove you wrong. Nonetheless Harry was thankful for the distraction his female friend provided. With Ron also focussed on her, the time spent cutting potions ingredients was rather relaxing. Relaxing enough that Harry used the opportunity to commune with his swarm.

The mental map - or rather image nowadays - developed to be his main method to command the swarm. Harry selected one of his three drones with his mind and asked for it's building options. Suddenly the demanded information popped into his head.

/Drone metamorphosis:

/Hatchery: Founding structure for every Zerg colony. Breeds the swarm.  
/Normal morph: 21 days; 30 tons biomass; 5 gseu bioenergy; 0 psi-energy.  
/Speed morph: 7 days; 50 tons biomass; 10 gseu bioenergy; 20 psi-energy.  
/Emergency morph: 1 day; 60 tons biomass; 20 gseu bioenergy; 300 psi-energy.

/Spawning Pool: accelerates transformation of new Zerg. required for Zerglings.  
/Normal morph: 7 days; 20 tons biomass; 4 gseu bioenergy; 0 psi-energy.  
/Speed morph: 2,5 days; 33 tons biomass; 8 gseu bioenergy; 20 psi-energy.  
/Emergency morph: 15 hours; 40 tons biomass; 16 gseu bioenergy; 200 psi-energy.

/Evolution Chamber: Place used to recombine assimilated DNA.  
/Normal morph: 4 days; 7,5 tons biomass; 2 gseu bioenergy; 0 psi-energy.  
/Speed morph: 1,3 days; 14 tons biomass; 4 gseu bioenergy; 10 psi-energy.  
/Emergency morph: 7 hours; 20 tons biomass; 8 gseu bioenergy; 75 psi-energy.

" , I know chopping can be relaxing, but it is dangerous to dream when you're working with knives," Professor Slughorn reminded the young overmind, ripping him back to reality.

"Sorry, Professor, I just... drifted off," Harry said his lame apology.

His potions teacher didn't seem to mind. "Yes, yes, we can't avoid a little thought drifting, can we?"

Harry nodded, yet the teacher had already gone somewhere else. Well, it certainly was better than Snape who had always hovered behind him, breathing down his neck as he was searching for reasons to take points from Gryffindor. Looking down at his hands, Harry saw he'd chopped more than he needed. After offering Ron his excess ingredients he began to brew. Sadly, the potion needed all his attention, so he couldn't really interact with the swarm. He really wasn't the best overmind.

On the other hand it gave him time to mull about what he wanted to do next. His hive-memory told Harry that the Zerglings were the basic soldiers of the swarm. He could certainly use them, especially if the acromantula got wind of his base. The problem was he needed the spawning pool to get them and the thing really took time to morph. Speeding up the process could help, but then he'd delay his evolutions chamber. No, he wouldn't, Harry suddenly realized. The mass was no problem, he still had the stockpiled wood in front of his hatchery.

Thinking about it, he might even want to try an Emergency Morph for the evolution chamber. Although... it seemed like a major waste of resources, so he probably shouldn't. 1,3 days was still fast enough. Especially now that his energy production had decreased. In the end two speed morphs seemed like the best option. He didn't want to wait forever, he wanted progress.

Right now Harry had to concentrate on the potion though. While he didn't really care for the teachers attention he didn't want to lose his reputation as a great brewer either. It certainly had its advantages. Not to speak of good grades... Thanks to the Half-Blood Prince's notes him and Hermione ended up with a potion of similar quality. Ron fucked up though, mistaking two ingredients on the last step.

The youngest Weasley boy was still trying to get peel the goo out of his ears when they left the classroom for their free studies session. Slughorn had chewed him out, but mostly for screwing up such a promising potion than making a mess. Harry wished they could have had Slughorn for the last years, then he might actually understand what he was doing. While Hermione was really helping with her explanations it wasn't the same as learning from a capable teacher.

"Hey Ron, let's go to the room of requirement. I need a place to talk uninterrupted," Harry suggested just after they'd separated from their bushy haired friend.

Ron nodded absently. "Um ok... wait, Room of Requirement? That means you can show me you-know-what..." he made an undeterminable gesture.

"Yeah, I guess... we can do homework afterwards," Harry said, walking towards the third floor corridor.

Suddenly, Ron pointed up a staircase. "Say Harry, did you too see Malfoy just run up there?"

"No," Harry shrugged. "I wonder why he's so rushed. Well, maybe we'll see where he went," Harry said as they took said staircase.

They didn't, but when they arrived at the room of requirement it turned out to be blocked. Someone else was obviously using it. The two Gryffindor boys had no choice but to return to their common room.

"Okay Harry, what did you want?" Ron asked, sitting down on a lone couch in a corner of the room. "**Muffliato****!**"

Harry sighed. "I guess it has to be enough. Maybe I'm just paranoid... but is it paranoia if Voldemort is out to get you?"

"Not so funny, mate," Ron said. "**Hominem Revelio**." The Weasley boy looked around. "No, nobody here, so spill."

"It's just that the swarm finally begins to work," Harry stated. "I'm morphing a small army of drones and last night my first overlord scouted the Forbidden Forest."

"Well, that's great Harry," Ron said, obviously not all that thrilled about it. "Anyway, can we begin with our homework? I want to be ready for Hermione..."

'Wow, that's a first,' Harry thought by himself. "Alright, but I need to issue some orders for the swarm. So I guess I'll be out of it for a few minutes."

"Nodding as he stood up, Ron replied: "I'll gather the stuff, just hurry please."

Meanwhile Harry concentrated on the swarm again. He decided to morph each building into each clearing and mentally designated the planned areas on the map in his mind.

{Overmind,} Adalbert sent just after he'd done that. {The evolution chamber could profit from a direct connection to the spawning pool. The slime would accelerate the research in the evolution chamber.}

Quickly correcting his mistake, Harry thanked his overlord. The large being was an incredible help. Mentally picking two drones, the young overmind realized that he got faster in his direction of the swarm. He just ordered them to morph into his planned structures (well, the spawning pool first and after they'd gathered enough biomass also the evolution chamber) and sent them on their way. Maybe it also was Adalbert's help, but Harry wasn't going to complain. He was sick of wasting time instructing the hivemind step by step. Thinking minions were definitely a nice thing to have.

Harry also cued the production of a few new overlords and drones. Although he didn't know yet what to use the creatures for, he figured they could be used as warriors in the worst case. The overlords always had the problem that water for their production lacked, yet in this case the snow was an advantage. The creep slowly absorbed the white mass, generating more than enough water for the hatchery.

This day Harry was flooded with work again. Writing essays, researching stuff... He almost wished he could sit on a couch and let Ron crush him in chess. It was certainly better than the stress and boredom of the eternal homework. The fact that Ginny was snogging Dean just in his sight in a corner of the common room didn't make anything better. It only made him more frustrated.

XXXHPASXXX

Harry was groaning under his workload when the hivemind called him the next day, just as he wanted to go down for dinner.

{Overmind, the evolution chamber has been completed.}

'Great', Harry thought. But he didn't know what to do with it. Something he should have considered earlier. Maybe the swarm would know how. He just concentrated on the image of the evolution chamber. It was a tentacled thing that just seemed sleeping on the ground right next to an amorphous pulsating blob that was going to be his spawning pool. It worked, new information popped into Harry's mind.

/Evolution chamber.  
/Improves and adapts Existing Zerg-strains.  
/Hit Points 750  
/Armor 1  
/Energy consumption 500 mega seu/day.  
/Stores and collects new DNA  
/Creates new Zerg-strains.  
/Controls assimilation process.  
/Creates Prototypes

{So how does it create new Zergs?} Harry sent, curious if he could make his own.

{The evolution chamber develops a new growth program for either drones or larvae,} the hivemind began to explain. {It causes the larvae to develop under its supervision to test the processes and the results. The final product is the prototype. If the prototype proves useful or superior the evolution chamber transfers the genetic program to the hatchery which adds it to new larvae.}

This would allow him to adjust his Zerg for his own purposes later on, Harry realized. Right now he just wanted to increase the defense of his swarm though. And he knew, there was no better defense than not to be seen.

{Hivemind, please have the evolution chamber research adaption to blend our structures into the environment,} Harry ordered. {Once that is done have it find a way to increase our energy production.}

Of course Harry had tried to control it himself, wanting to learn controlling his swarm better, but the mind - if it be called that - of the evolution chamber was too alien to him. Maybe he could find out later how to operate it, although it seemed very complicated. More for someone research oriented like Hermione than him.

{Yes Overmind, your order will be transmitted. The hivemind will inform you once the process has been completed.}

Harry felt another pressure in the back of his head. He recognized it as Adalbert and opened a connection. {I and my brothers want to remind you that the evolutions chamber can assimilate genetic code into the swarm,} the intelligent Zerg said. {We suggest you order the drones to provide samples.}

It was a good idea, but he didn't have the time to micromanage something like this. {Very good,} Harry praised. {You and your brothers are in charge of this operation. Just be reminded to keep away from humans, centaurs and acromantula... for now. Um... and don't take other sentients.}

{We live to serve,} the overlord acknowledged. The way it really meant the statement, disturbed Harry more than just a bit. He couldn't mull over his feelings since he realized he wasn't alone in the room and wanted to meet his friends at dinner.

"... look, he's spaced out again. I really wonder what's up with Potter lately," Harry heard Lavender Brown say as he returned to reality."

"I think its cute," Romilda Vane remarked. Harry only remembered her from the train and not in a good way. Slandering his friends was no way to get into his good graces after all.

Harry only shook himself, ignoring the girls. Neither was his type... giggly girly girls, who had makeup for brains and no worries in the world. He couldn't have less in common with them. Hell, he had a dark Lord after his life and they thought it would be cool to be his girlfriend. There was something really wrong with those people.

XXXHPASXXX

**Part 9:**

{Overmind! The swarm is under attack!} The hivemind yelled, just as Harry was attempting, a complicated transformation in McGonagall's class. Instead of turning into a pelican as intended, the barrel in front of him transformed into a swirling, creeping mass of strange, ugly worms and bugs.

"**Evanesco**! Mr. Potter, what the hell were you doing?" the transformations professor shouted.

"My scar, Professor," Harry replied, thinking on his feet. "It burns." He groaned.

It hadn't really done so for a month, which made him wonder if Voldemort had done something about it. It might also be thanks to his familiar bond with the swarm. Harry was glad the pain was gone, but right now it offered a convenient excuse.

"Alright, go and see Poppy," the stern teacher ordered. "Come back as soon as you're ready."

Harry nodded. "Yes, thank you professor."

He quickly left the room, concentrating on his swarm as soon as the door had fallen shut behind him. There was a red dot as well as an orange area on his mental map, a bunch of drones was rushing there and he could feel the worry of his overlords.

Focussing on Adalbert, Harry asked: {What is going on?}

{An acromantula attacked one of the drones,} the overlord replied. {We can't supervise the forest during the day, so it got through undetected. The acromantula is still fighting our drone.}

{Damn,} Harry cussed, angry that he didn't order his swarm to stay at home in the day. {Take it down. We can't let the colony know of our presence.}

Harry followed the events from the map in his mind. It didn't work as well as usual, since the overlords were still forced to stay on the ground, but he couldn't order it yet. It was bright daylight and everyone looking from the castle or maybe even Hogsmeade could have seen them. No, there was no choice but sending in his drones blind. Well, not really blind. He still had the information from the creep and his fighting drone.

Meanwhile his drone wasn't faring well at all. Its wings had been shredded - the right one was missing almost completely - and it couldn't keep itself in the air anymore. The pincers were crippled and had lost their movement capability. It wasn't dead so far, but it was clear it wouldn't survive another attack. The drone was really only waiting to die.

Harry couldn't let that happen. His drones were only meters away and they were sprinting towards the fighting ground. Looking through the eyes of his wounded drone, Harry could see the acromantula as it jumped forwards, trying to crush him between its pincers. Harry was just waiting to have his… the head of his drone crushed, but then another drone slammed into the acromantula, preventing the end of his crippled drone.

Other drones appeared from the forest, launching themselves on the acromantula. Regrettably, the monster wasn't stupid. Realizing the danger, it grabbed the torn off wing with its forelegs and jumped into the trees, out of the range of his drones. Harry was amazed by its abilities. His drones were fierce fighters by themselves, but it had managed to take one by surprise, cripple it and then managed to get away even when he had it surrounded. Harry wanted it for his swarm.

He'd just ordered his units to follow, when the giant spider shot a string at one of his drones and fastened it to a tree. Merlin this is amazing, Harry thought to himself. He really wanted one of those, the beasts were useful.

{Shit!} Harry cussed, realizing the acromantula actually managed to get away for real. It was fast in the trees, and it wasn't like his drones could really fly. They were following the monster on the ground, but were incapable to confront it again. Harry was forced to stop the pursuit, he didn't want to lead his drones into a trap.

It would have been nice if they could have flown... But they couldn't. Their ability wasn't real antigravity, no they somehow repelled the ground. Which was the problem in this case since that force got smaller the greater the difference between themselves and the ground became.

{Overlords, prepare the swarm to defend from an attack. Retreat to the base and fell the trees around the barrier,} Harry commanded, wiping sweat from his forehead, while he marked the area on his mental map.. {I don't want acromantula attacking from above.}

{Yes, Overmind. Your order is our desire,} Adalbert replied. He'd become the spokesperson of the overlords, but then Harry hadn't exactly talked to the others. He probably should remedy that mistake later on.

Harry felt his preparations weren't enough. There had to be more he could do. Ignoring his overlords for now, Harry contacted the hivemind as he slowly walked to the infirmary. {Speed morph the remaining Larvae into drones. I want the creep to cover the trees at the border of the space that the Larvae will clear. Don't kill the trees in the process please.}

After he'd finished his order, he hurried to the hospital wing. It was a real shame this didn't happen during a break, he could have really used Ron's help. The guy was a genius in strategy after all. What did Ron say? Divide and conquer… If his drones managed to get an acromantula alone he was sure they'd win. But alone there was no way they could win.

{Overlords,} Harry sent, targeting them all at once. {Make sure your drones patrol in pairs, or better, in groups of three or four. Don't let the acromantula divide you. We need to survive until the spawning pool is ready.}

The large beasts affirmed his orders and Harry felt that each of them had a different mental voice. Maybe all of them together would find flaws in his plan and improve on it. Adalbert was certainly smart enough. The problem was they didn't really have much experience. Only the stuff they'd learned in the short time they'd been alive and Harry's own memories. That meant they operated on the same basis of knowledge as him. Well, Harry sighed to himself. That should improve in the future.

In the worst case he could just order his overlords to pick up drones and fly somewhere else, but that was an option he really didn't want to use. Not only would he be in trouble with the wizards, but the Muggles could very well detect his swarm as soon as they left Hogwarts wards. No, they'd just need to defeat the acromantula. He knew it was inevitable, yet he'd hoped to have more time to prepare.

No point to cry about spilled milk, Harry thought as he entered Madam Pomfrey's lair.

"Hello, hello," Harry said loudly as he didn't see the strict nurse.

"No need to yell, Mr. Potter," the nurse said as she came from one of the rooms to the side. "I was just attending a fellow student of yours. Miss Lovegood, I think you know her."

"Yes, Luna is my friend," Harry quickly replied. "What happened to her?"

"Shouldn't you be worried about yourself?" Madam Pomfrey inquired, rolling her eyes. "You don't visit here, just because you like me so much."

"Well, I don't dislike you," Harry defended himself. Seriously, who liked to be in the hospital? "So what happened with Luna?"

The nurse shook her head, grinning at the famous boy's antics. "No, you tell me what's wrong with you and then I might tell you about Miss Lovegood."

A sigh escaped Harry. "I... I had another vision, ok? And my scar hurt, but it's alright now," he said only slightly lying.

"Did the Luglumps get you Harry?" he heard his blonde friend saying. "I think I see some nesting in your hair." Luglumps didn't exist, but that wouldn't deter Luna, Harry knew.

"Miss Lovegood, you should be in the bed!" the school nurse admonished. "You're hurt, it's not good if you're walking around and I need to look after Mr. Potter."

Turning around to his eccentric friend, Harry was shocked. She had bruises all over her body and carrots were growing out of her ears - How she was capable to hear was beyond him.

"Luna, what happened to you?" the last Potter asked, really worried about his friend. "Who did this to you?"

"The nargles didn't like me," Luna said as she scuffled back into her room.

"It was her house '_mates'_again," Madam Pomfrey said, venom was dripping from her voice. "I told Flitwick that he can't let human children act this way around each other, but no, he thinks it strengthens the character. Bloody goblins!" Taking a short breath she continued her tirade. "I knew this would happen sooner or later. Letting them steal her things could only lead to something like this. Kicking her down the stairs... if she wasn't magical that would be a murder attempt!"

Harry was horrified. He'd suspected bad things happened to Luna, her insane sounding ramblings indicated stuff like that. He'd never suspected something like this though. Merlin, he considered Luna his friend and yet he had no idea something like this was going on. What kind of friend was he?

Throwing Harry a meaningful glance, the school nurse continued: "Sorry Luna, I guess I should have talked about it."

"It's not your fault that you're tormented by Ragrumps," the bruised Ravenclaw replied, waving Madam Pomfrey's concerns aside.

Meanwhile, Harry was still stunned from the revelations. Pomfrey was right, he couldn't let this continue. Luna needed help and friends she could rely on. Ravenclaw obviously wasn't just the house of the smart, but also the house of the assholes. Even the Slytherins didn't do something like this. Merlin, they made a point out of showing a united front. They might bully others, but at least they didn't tolerate it among themselves. Snape would never allow it, not under his nose, not after his own experiences. Harry hated the teacher, but he knew that the man would never allow something like this.

"Oh… sorry Mr. Potter, I almost forgot you," Madam Pomfrey said as she turned her attention towards the young Gryffindor again. "Your scar hurt and you said something about a vision… Was there something specific?"

Rubbing his scar – he hated lying to the school nurse – Harry explained. "I think they were talking about attacking someone. I guess Voldemort has found a way to sort of keep me out of his mind, since I couldn't really understand what they were talking about."

"Well… I can't say I'm very happy that they're plotting to kill someone again, but it's not like we can do anything about it," Madam Pomfrey sighed and shrugged. "At least this means less nightmares for you."

Harry only nodded, not sure what to say.

"You don't have any headaches, no pain in your scar anymore?" the nurse inquired.

"I have a slight headache," Harry admitted, not that he would have come to the hospital for such a thing otherwise. It didn't come from Voldemort, no it came from the massive interaction with his swarm. He really doubted a human brain was meant to be used as an Overmind. Right now it was a convenient excuse though.

"Right," Madam Pomfrey said, raising her eyebrows. "Just a 'slight' one? Your visits here tend to be for worse reasons."

"Yes, only slight," Harry sighed. "I'm glad it's not hurting worse. Anyway, I'm glad I came here or I'd never known about Luna."

"Okay, Mr. Potter. Just take this," Pomfrey said as she took a potion from a shelf. "It should help. I don't want to give you something harder in case that your headache really is just slight."

Harry slowly nodded. Snape had delighted to warn them of the consequences of faulty potion usage. He shuddered remembering the very graphic pictures.

"Good, take it and wait until it works," the school nurse said and threw another meaningful glance in Luna's direction. "You can go back to class afterwards."

"Thank you, Madam Pomfrey," Harry replied, after drinking his headache potion. "Come on, Luna, let's go back to your bed."

Supporting his friend, Harry led her towards the hospital bed Madam Pomfrey had designated for her.

"Luna," Harry said sighing, after he'd helped her back on the bed. "Why did you let them do this? You fought Death eaters… Why?"

A sob escaped the usually bright Ravenclaw. "I can't… I don't know what I'll do once I'll start fighting the Nargles. Avada Kedavra isn't exactly a hard spell to cast."

Harry just fell down on the bed behind him. "You aren't serious, are you?" Then he saw her look. "Merlin, you are."

"I hate them!" Luna sobbed. Harry was holding her hand. "They just won't let me alone. I don't expect friends anymore, but why can't they just leave me alone?"

Harry shook his head. "I don't know," he mumbled, more to himself than to Luna. "Maybe because they're nasty assholes? Um… Luna, why didn't you say anything?"

"I did," Luna said, angrily wiping the tears from her eyes. "But nobody listened."

Harry sighed. Yes, she did. Somehow, but not in a way he could understand. "Luna, nobody knew what you meant with Nargles. We all thought they were just another form of Wrackspurts. But no more… um why didn't you join us at the Gryffindor table?"

Harry had just meant the question rhetorically, but Luna took it serious. "I didn't think you'd want me. Hermione and Ron think I am crazy..." And you didn't think much different, Harry concluded Luna's sentence in his head.

"I'm sorry; I guess I should have known…" Harry said, feeling ashamed for his actions or rather inactions.

"I guess you couldn't. I hid this from you, I didn't directly tell you… I didn't think you'd care," Luna said, sobbing again. "Nobody did"

It was really disturbing to Harry to see his friend like his. Maybe they weren't as close as he was with Ron and Hermione, but that didn't mean he didn't care for her. There had to be something he could do.

"Um… can you tell me the names of the people who did this? I'm sure we can do something against them."

"And then they'll take it out on me. Everyone knows we're friends," Luna replied sadly.

"Flitwick doesn't do anything… Do you think Imperio works on Half-Goblins?" Harry laughed awkwardly. "Maybe we should talk to Dumbledore."

"No," the bruised Ravenclaw replied. "Dumbledore feels it's the house teacher's choice how to deal with problems within their houses."

"I'm sorry," Harry said, although he'd already decided to ignore her wish and talk with Dumbledore during their next lesson. "Please join us for the meals. You don't need to stay with these assholes… monsters."

Luna slowly nodded, smiling brightly at him. "Thank you, Harry, but I think you need to go back to your class. I don't think Wrackspurts count as an excuse."

XXXHPASXXX

That evening Luna had joined the golden trio at dinner. After Harry had told his friends what he'd heard at the hospital wing, they were as convinced to help Luna as he. It took some serious convincing to stop Hermione from going to the Ravenclaw tower and hex everyone who came through the entrance. Flitwick had most likely gone from the second most respected teacher in her opinion to the second worst. Just barely above Umbridge. Lockhart had at least looked well.

Sure, Luna was a bit nuts, but it was a good nuts, as Ron put it. They'd plotted to find a way to protect their mutual friend. They couldn't really do anything yet as they didn't know the perpetrators, but they certainly wouldn't leave Luna at their mercy. The two boys distracted the Ravenclaw girl and Hermione used the opportunity to silently cast a few tracking charms at her. They'd go off once the girl felt distress. Together with the Marauders map it would have to be enough for now. Once they had the names of Luna's bullies that would change of course.

Hermione and Ron were prefects after all, which gave them power in the school. Giving detentions with Snape to some bullies... well, Harry was sure that Snape would have fun with them. Like having them clean Neville's cauldrons by hand.

Dinner was actually fun. Luna's stories were entertaining, once one got used to the eccentric names of her creatures. Humpering Blumpertingers, Snorkacks, Grumpling Welfings and of course the Wrackspurt plague infecting the ministry. When Neville joined them, things got more serious as they began talking about politics. Ron wasn't all that interested, but Hermione hung at their lips, asking good questions about the system.

The rest of the evening the group spent in the schools common room, doing their homework and helping each other. To Hermione's surprise Luna could actually help her with runes. She'd learned them from her father since she was a small child. Harry couldn't believe he'd never used that room before. The extreme isolationism between the houses couldn't have been intended by the founders after all. This was supposed to be a school and not a training camp for gang wars, or so he thought.

While he was glad that he could help his friend, Harry's worries grew with each hour. He'd expected an acromantula attack, but nothing really happened. It was suspiciously silent. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore, he needed Ron's advice. After casting a _Muffliato_spell around their gathering Harry felt ready to burst.

"Ron," Harry began. "I need help with the swarm."

Ron didn't look too happy, he didn't want to go outside in this weather. "Yes… what's up?"

"My drones ran into an acromantula and it got away," Harry admitted.

"And why exactly is that a problem?" Hermione asked curiously, while Ron began to shudder.

"You weren't in their colony," Harry said, looking worriedly at his still shaking friend.

"They're monsters, hungry, always wanting to eat," Ron began his eyes wide with terror as he remembered their encounter in the second year. "And they're smart…"

Now Neville raised his voice: "And you think they're going to attack your colony en masse?"

"It's called hive, but yes, I think they're going to attack," Harry replied, looking pleadingly at Ron. "I need an idea how to deal with them. How to employ my drones. It won't be a problem if they take time until tomorrow, but I don't think I'll be that lucky."

"You need to attack them somewhere without trees," Ron stated, repeating his first thought. "I'm not sure how good they are hunting in packs, but I think your drones have the advantage there. Try to surround them, isolate groups of them and then strike. It would be best if you could somehow hide them, to take the spiders by surprise. They won't be able to organize then."

"Hiding…" Harry thought loudly. "I think maybe they could burrow under the snow."

{Hivemind, stop the creep from dissolving the snow,} Harry ordered his mental companion, as soon as he'd thought about it.

"Won't they get cold?" Hermione inquired obviously worried, while Luna was just listening interested.

"No, they can live in space…" Harry said, surprising himself. "Don't ask me how I know this, because I don't know myself."

Ron only nodded. "Well, I suggest you burrow the majority in the most likely invasion vector, while keeping a few on the backside as backup."

{Adalbert, please make sure to hide the drones in the snow in this pattern,} Harry said, marking another area on his mental map.

After receiving an affirmative from the overlord, Harry thanked his friends, returning to the previous topic; Luna's problem with a particular potion.

XXXHPASXXX

**Authors Note****: ****This should be pretty much the last time that I used these /description blocks. People complained and I can understand why they can get rather annoying. The problem was that I'd already written all of this when I started publishing and I really didn't feel like thinking of another solution and rewriting big parts of the story.**

**People suggested in reviews that I should have Harry use the swarm to improve his learning capability. I won't, at least not yet. My problem is that I imagine that Harry's connection to the swarm works very similar to Leglimency. The human mind is simply not made to absorb and save memories from another source. It isn't made to "google" memories/knowledge in a hivemind either. The result is that Harry will have flashes of insight from the swarm, but it won't turn him into somekind of genius. At least not before he's zergified, but that will have problems of its own.**

**I guess some of you have wondered about the snow thing and I've figured the swarm would generate most of its "energy" from either burning "minerals" in StarCraft or from absorbing light-energy. In this case Harry is focused on the photosynthesis or zergphotoabsorbation. I considered "burning" bio-mass for energy production, but that would be very inefficient, I think. He might try something like that later though. Right now he doesn't really have a shortage for energy anyway, it's something that threatens the long-term plans of the swarm though.**

**I figure some people might criticize me for Luna's bullying problems, considering that she seemed to get along with her Ravenclaw peers in the DA. You mustn't forget she was sort of a good friend of Harry's there, but he has pretty much abandoned her in book six. I don't know if she appeared after the scene in the train when they travelled to Hogwarts. Their former victim was suddenly weak again so the bullies turned against her again. If even her **_**friends**_** won't support her that means she's free game. Or so they think.**

**Anyway, I hope you liked these two chapters. Next chapter will have the big fight… and Harry has no Zerglings yet ];-**

**Thank you for reading my story.**


	9. Chapter 10

**Chapter Published: **15.02.2013

* * *

_Disclaimer:__ Elements of this story are copyrighted by other parties. My wallet complains, but I own neither StarCraft nor the Harry Potter franchise__. _

_If you thought I did, I'd love to know where you got that idea. Everything not owned by J. K. Rowling and Blizzard Entertainment (or whatever their name is right now) is owned by me._

_Thanks to Janet for betaing this story._

XXXHPASXXX

**Part 10:**

{Overmind, we have detected movements coming from the acromantula colony,} Adalbert's voice intruded into Harry's thoughts just as their homework group wanted to call it a night. It was what Harry had feared and it happened earlier than he'd hoped. He had no zerglings.

"Attack, now," Harry told his friends, sinking back in his chair as he totally focused on his mental map. Yes, there was something coming, seventy spiders of different size swarmed out through the snow in the direction of his hatchery. Moving in rows they headed towards the place where the fight with his drone had happened. There were more spiders than drones, so Harry was rather glad they weren't all moving in a tight group. If they actually spread out to search for their food, he might be able to pick them off one for one, Harry hoped.

The hope didn't hold long. Yes, they spread a bit, yet not enough to make a big difference. Now he would have to fight them in a group and somehow try to divide them. It wouldn't be easy, that much was sure. In hindsight Harry thought it might have been smarter to just let his drone die. Maybe then the acromantula would have thought it was the only one of its kind. Well, there was no point in crying about spilled milk. He just had to live with the results of his actions.

Harry watched anxiously as the spiders quickly encroached on the free zone in front of his barrier. He wished he had some range fighters, because it would have enabled him to turn it into a killing zone. But he hadn't. He couldn't count the acid spitting of his drones as it didn't have a large range and was way too weak anyway. Sure it weakened the carapace, but didn't really get through. No, his ambush had to be enough.

It didn't take long and the deciding moment was there. Finally the acromantula burst from the trees, drawn in by the sweet smell of his hatchery. Snow was flying up as hundreds of legs traversed the clear area. Knowing he had to act, Harry gave the attack order. Instantly his drones launched themselves from the snow, appearing seemingly from nowhere as they attacked the center of the acromantula force. Harry had hoped he could take out a whole wing, but this would have to be enough.

Watching them from his overlord induced sight, it became obvious to Harry that he'd totally caught the spiders by surprise. He would have to thank Ron later. Drones were crushing heads, ripping off legs and piercing acid weakened carapaces. It had been supposed to be a feeding run for the spiders, but it had become a battle even before they'd reached their food. Food was not supposed to fight and it certainly wasn't supposed to launch surprise attacks.

Harry took about ten spiders down in the first three seconds, the surprise was so big, they actually froze. The problem was then the acromantula began to fight back. Inhuman battle cries and alien moans of pain were only slightly subdued by the raging snowstorm. The acromantula knew, they needed this food or many of them wouldn't survive the winter. The weak never did. Meanwhile the swarm knew it couldn't lose, or it would be ended tonight.

Pincers hit claws and mandibles, flesh was torn apart in this desperate battle for survival. Moving around on eight legs the acromantula could nimbly avoid his drones' more clumsy attacks, while enabling their own lightning fast strikes, attacking and retreating before a drone could react. Meanwhile his drones had their acid, making the spiders' armors brittle, allowing them to use their current advantage of numbers. Really, only one attack needed to hit so Harry had ordered the drones to surround a giant spider and then strike it down. The problem was this strategy depended on numbers and Harry wasn't sure he really had those.

Soon the first moment of surprise was over. but his drones had managed to slay fifteen acromantula. It could have been better. Now the enemy was alarmed and ready to strike back. Thankfully, the giant spiders weren't a swarm and didn't have distance communication. The storm was raging, muting the battle sounds enough that they wouldn't reach the outer flanks of the acromantula force. Accordingly not all enemies were in the counter attack, yet forty were more than enough to make trouble for him. Harry himself had only 40 drones in his attack-force himself, which ended his advantage of numbers.

Still he had a reserve of ten drones, which he'd originally kept back in case some broke through his defense. He didn't want them to attack the hatchery, even if the hatchery could most likely take their damage. Although Harry had needed to reserve additional drones while planning the defense, now his backup wasn't needed anymore as the acromantula not involved in the battle had found something more interesting to distract themselves. They were attacking his alarm creep on the trees, gouging it down into their spidery maws.

Merlin be blessed for the acromantulas' hunger, Harry thought as he ordered his reserve into the attack. He knew he was very lucky that his drones had managed to take so many of the beasts down with their first attack, the full force of the enemy would have simply overrun him. It could still happen though... now that the odds were even he'd be screwed if the monsters used his strategy against him.

One force in his back and one force he attacked could easily end in an envelopment, which was something he really needed to avoid. He'd never heard of an army that actually won in an envelopment situation. Sieges didn't count. No, he'd need to rely on the weather to distract one wing of the enemy, while he attacked the other one in full force. Ordering his drones into V-formation, Harry rushed them eastwards, ignoring the acromantula in their back.

It was a risky strategy, but one that proved successful. The western acromantula wing was still weary after the sudden surprise attack and didn't dare to proceed recklessly. Luckily the snowstorm even grew in intensity, chilling the giant spiders and obstructing their view. The fact that they stumbled over the mauled corpses of their fallen companions didn't exactly help morale either. If they had morals at all... humans most likely would have fled in their situation, Harry thought as he saw them hesitate among the corpses. Sadly, the monsters worked differently and right now they were only driven by their hunger.

Even though the western force was distracted and delayed that didn't mean the swarm had an easy time. Many drones had already sustained injuries and this time the spiders knew something was coming. After crashing into the eastern force Harry's drones suddenly found themselves in a way more serious fight. Strings were shot to stop his advance, acid spit to dissolve strings and armor, claws red wings apart and pincers crushed spider armor.

One drone died after another, but managed to kill the acromantula even faster. And it progressed. Each dead enemy meant one or two drones free to join another fight. Each dead drone opened a way for the other one to end the spider they were fighting. This wasn't all though: The best thing was the swarm gained experience with each second. Fighting on pure instinct in the beginning, the swarm had found more effective ways to kill the enemy. Now he... his drones knew where and how to hit the spider carapace for maximum effect as well as how the enemies fought. And it wasn't just the individuum that learned. Each thing one drone figured out the others also knew.

The western acromantula-force wasn't sleeping though, attracted by battle sounds they blew all caution in the wind and rushed into the fight. The growing experience certainly made the swarm more effective, but they still didn't manage to kill all of the eastern force before the acromantula backup was upon them. Twenty giant spiders shouted their battle cries as they crashed into the drones that were just forming a primitive defense. Only thirty of his drones were left, and many of them injured.

Harry didn't like the odds. He still had to get rid of the eastern force's remainder while defeating the uninjured acromantula from the west-wing and doing this with his battle torn, tired drones. He'd fought with two times as many drones as spiders and still lost ten. And that was when most of his force was still healthy. Now the situation looked way worse.

While he killed off the remaining spiders of the east force in seconds, he lost the same amount of drones to the western offensive. It didn't look good at all, Harry realized. If nothing changed he'd actually lose this battle. The drones weren't very good against a focussed enemy. Merlin, they weren't supposed to be fighters at all.

{The spawning pool has been completed,} the hivemind sent, interrupting Harry's concentration on the desperate battle.

{Emergency morph Zerglings, now!} Harry ordered as he remembered about the swarm's soldier units. He didn't have time to really think about it though, as he almost instantly focussed back on the still raging battle.

What he saw was not to Harry's liking. His defending force had shrunk to twenty drones and he'd only managed to kill three of the attacking western wing. There were seventeen spiders left, actually worsening the numerical odds. The truth was he would have lost already if some of the spiders hadn't been distracted by the creep. Considering how they seemed to care for nothing around them, Harry wondered if they'd been addicted by the creep, or if it was just the way feeding acromantulas worked. They completely ignored the battle raging only a hundred meters away, just to stuff their spider stomachs.

It was a shame, he hadn't known about this weakness beforehand, Harry thought. He could have just ordered his drones to reveal a creep-zone and the spider monsters would have been distracted until he had a real defense force ready. Moaning about what could have been didn't help though, he had to deal with what he had.

The acromantula fighting him had formed something resembling a battle formation, denying him the opportunity to surround single spiders. The monsters learned and this way they really had the advantage. They were faster, had longer range and managed to protect each other... somewhat. Maybe they were just protecting themselves by using other acromantula as cover on their sides. Whatever the reason for this behavior it was effective, denying Harry almost all possibilities to fight them. Spitting acid was his drones only option as they couldn't strike with their pincers or they'd get into the acromantulas' attack range

After a few seconds, the creatures ended up in some sort of stalemate. The drones acid wasn't strong enough to totally get through the acromantulas' carapaces and the spiders couldn't afford to break formation or they'd instantly be taken down by the swarm. The situation was bad for either side. Then the backup appeared. Harry had almost forgotten about them, just something in the back of his head, too far away to be really part of the battle.

No longer. Forming up in a line, Harry's reinforcement of ten drones raced into the back of the tight spider formation. Now the swarm's shared knowledge proved to be crucial. The acid spitting had fatally weakened the carapaces and every single drone of the relief force knew where to hit the enemy for a fatal strike. Crashing into their enemies only one drone failed to do their job. Suddenly only eight spiders were left that found themselves surrounded by twenty-eight angry drones. Biting, clawing and piercing ensued, reducing the suddenly overwhelmed enemy into nothingness.

Harry let out a sigh of relief. He'd feared the worst, but twenty-seven of his drones were still operable and five others still alive enough to regenerate to full health. One of them made him wonder how it could be possibly alive, considering that only one of its hearts was still beating and brainmass was leaking out of its skull. It seemed as if the Zerg were almost indestructible, if they could survive stuff like that. Nonetheless, he'd almost lost. Eighteen drones of his had died, leaving their psionic spirits in the hatchery.

This was something new. No member of the swarm really died as long as the overmind was alive. Apparently Harry could reincarnate them, or so his swarm knowledge said. No wonder they went into the battle as if their lives didn't matter. As it seemed, they really didn't. Well, as long as the swarm survived. No... as long as the overmind survived. Apparently his psionic power was used to anchor the psionic spirits to the swarms. If he wasn't there anymore, they'd go wherever...

Harry wasn't sure what to think about it. His parents had been taken when he was still a baby, but here he was the overmind of a race where effectively even the dogs were immortal.

"Merlin! That can't be true," Harry said, accidently speaking loudly.

"Mate are you alright," Ron's worried voice penetrated through his haze.

Harry nodded, quickly addressing his friends. "I just learned something about the swarm that I never expected."

He couldn't really be bothered with his friends right now. He still had to mop up the fight. Fifteen giant spiders were still roaming the borders of the battlefield, consuming his creep and doing whatever they wanted, which might very well be another attack. Concentrating on his mental swarm view - in his opinion it had already become too complicated to be called map - Harry checked the situation again. Thankfully nothing had really changed. His crippled drones were still crippled and the acromantula still eating. It seemed like Aragog's colony suffered from serious food problems. Which, begged the question as to why they didn't attack the castle. Maybe wards were keeping them away.

{Overlords,} Harry began, addressing all of them. {Please pick up the wounded drones and return them to the hatchery.}

{Yes Overmind, your wish is our destiny,} Adalbert replied and Harry saw two overlords sinking down to the battlefield.

He wasn't too happy about the outcome of the battle. It had been way too close. It looked like a somewhat decisive victory, considering that he still had 28 drones left operable, but Harry knew the truth. By all rights he should have lost. Why the spiders went out during a heavy snowstorm he could only speculate about. Maybe they thought they'd catch his drones by surprise or it was something else. Harry couldn't tell. In the end the reason didn't matter, he had won. But Harry knew he had to do better. His swarm mustn't be threatened like this ever again. Hopefully the Zerglings proved better fighters than the drones.

{Overmind,} Adalbert interrupted Harry's thoughts. {the evolution chamber can analyze the fallen enemies so we can assimilate their code of life.}

Harry mentally sighed, he just wanted to be done with the whole affair. {Fine, take five drones and gather the corpses.}

{If we want to integrate them into the swarm it would really help if we could infest a living sample,} the the overlords' leader added.

{What is infesting?}

{The swarm infests species that we want to assimilate into the swarm,} the overlord explained. {The evolution chamber produces an infestor-virus, which improves the infested's bio-system and adds it to the hivemind. The genetic memory indicates that it can take some experimentation time to get it right.}

This was certainly interesting, the acromantula would likely prove useful, but he couldn't bring himself to care right now. The battle had taken all his concentration and now he was tired. Seriously, with the fighting experience gained in the battle his overlords should be more than capable to mop up the remainder of the enemy, Harry thought.

{Ok, just take the rest of the drones and pick off the remaining acromantula from the trees,} Harry replied, he was tired of the overlord's tendency to ask for permission for every single thing it wanted to do.

Sure, it was nice to be wanted, but it really got annoying after a time. Thinking about it gave Harry an idea though: {Adalbert, if you or the other overlords have an idea to improve the swarm, just do it if it doesn't risk our survival. Just keep away from humans and centaurs for now, ok?}

{We live to serve.}

{Whatever...} Harry sighed. {Sorry, I'm just tired. This attack came at the worst time.}

{Overmind, once we've got the infestation process right you should improve your own bio processes.}

{Maybe I'll do that...} Harry quickly replied, ignoring the overlord as he really didn't want to think about this right now.

When he finally opened his eyes again, Harry saw Ron waving his hand in front of his face.

Suddenly caught in Harry's grip, Ron grinned. "Oh you're back again. Any special reason you were sighing all the time?"

"Yes," Harry said, working hard to suppress another sigh. "My overlord decided just now was the time to hold a debate about improvement of the swarm. I just want to go to bed."

"Um what is an overlord?" Hermione asked, only to correct herself after seeing her best friend's face. "Forget it, just tell me tomorrow, but I want to know if you've won."

The rest of the group nodded. "Yeah, we'd also like to know," Neville added.

Harry nodded as a yawn escaped him. "Yeaaaah, I won, but it was a close battle. It took almost forever."

"Did the Wrackspurts infest you?" Luna suddenly asked. "Forever is longer than five minutes, or so Daddy says."

"Whatever, it certainly felt like the longest five minutes ever." Harry yawned once more for good measure. "Um guys, I'm sorry to be abrupt, but if I don't go to bed right now, I'll fall asleep standing." It almost looked as if he wanted to make his word true as Harry began to sway.

"**Rennervate!**" Hermione said, quickly casting the reviving spell at Harry. "Sorry, Luna, we need to go, the spell won't hold for long. See you tomorrow."

"Yes, see you tomorrow," Harry added and the others also said their goodbyes.

After returning to the Gryffindor tower Harry hadn't yet managed to undress when he felt the spell fading. He just dropped unconscious onto his bed. This night he didn't dream anything he remembered.

XXXHPASXXX

**Authors Note:**** So… I finally wrote the first big fight. I hope you liked it. I figured the drones would have some troubles with Acromantula. These beasts aren't called wizard killer for nothing after all. **

**After this chapter the focus will be on the Harry Potter plotline for a while. Well… and the changes that came with the swarm :D Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter and how I described the fight. This was my first attempt at writing about a real battle ever… I mean this wasn't just a fight like the one where Harry fought the acromantula. Please tell me what you think about it.**

**Thank you for reading this story. **

_I kind of want to suggest some alternative reading for this chapter; Materia Blade is writing this awesome story "Error of Soul" which is the best Soulbond Fic I've ever read. No bashing, Harry x Hermione and he's focusing on the problems of such a bond and less its advantages. It's also an awesome AU with several changes to the canon universe._


	10. Chapter 11

**Chapter Published: **22.02.2013 **Updated:** 23.02.2013

* * *

_Disclaimer:__ Elements of this story are copyrighted by other parties. My wallet complains, but I own neither StarCraft nor the Harry Potter franchise__. _

_If you thought I did, I'd love to know where you got that idea. Everything not owned by J. K. Rowling and Blizzard Entertainment (or whatever their name is right now) is owned by me._

_Thanks to Janet for betaing this story. Thanks to Richard for catching the other mistakes.  
_

XXXHPASXXX

**Part 11:**

The next evening, Harry's friends met in the all house common room once again.

"**Muffliato!**" Ron cried as soon as they'd gathered in a free corner. "You let us stew all day! Now tell, what happened yesterday?"

"Um... it's kinda hard to describe," Harry said reluctantly. Seeing his friend's expression he relented, raising his hands. "Okay, okay, I'll tell you."

"Yes. The only thing we know so far, is that you've won," Neville said, adding his own thoughts.

Luna grinned. "I'd also like to know something. I've been stewing over it since yesterday... What was it that couldn't be true?"

Hermione only nodded, looking eagerly at her best friend.

"Alright," Harry sighed. "After an acromantula attacked a drone during McGonagall's class, I prepared my swarm for an attack. It came last night just as we wanted to leave here." Harry took a short dramatic pause, only to receive a glare from Ron. "Well, seventy acromantula..." shocked gasps interrupted the story.

"Seriously?!" Ron yelled. "Seventy of those monsters?!"

"Yeah, seventy and I only had fifty drones myself," Harry said. "Forty were hidden in the pathway of the acromantula army, - thank you for that suggestion Ron - and totally surprised them when they suddenly appeared in their center."

"Are you serious?" Ron asked wide eyed. "You really attacked the center, how is your swarm still alive?" He hadn't recommended such idiocy to his friend.

"Well, there was a snowstorm, and the fact that my drones actually managed to destroy the center of their army. It was also a nice surprise that acromantula love to eat creep. I only had to fight forty spiders after the first attack."

"That's interesting, I guess it works with the surprise," Ron admitted. "However it doesn't explain how you defeated the rest. They should have enveloped your drones and finished them off."

"Well, that's where the snowstorm helped. The spiders also didn't really understand what was going on. I first attacked the right wing and by the time the left attacked they were mostly defeated. I kind of had a stalemate then, so I used my reserve to defeat the other wing," Harry quickly explained. "I had 28 operable drones left."

"Ok, but that result doesn't sound so impressive," Hermione interjected. "I mean isn't your swarm supposed to be kind of a super weapon?"

Ron shook his head over his girlfriend. "Hermione, he was attacked by an overwhelming force and managed to defeat it without even losing half his army. If that's not impressive, I don't know what is."

"Yeah, I was kinda lucky, by all rights I should have lost," Harry admitted. "Hermione is right though. It's not all that impressive, but then I fought with my worker ants so to speak. My warrior ants weren't ready yet."

"Warrior ants, what are those?" Neville inquired, curious as ants were one of his continuous enemies.

"Well, not really ants of course," Harry said, elaborating to his friends. "They're Zerglings and they're..."

Yes, what were they actually, Harry wondered. He'd just built them on good luck. The hivemind could help though.

/Zergling:  
/Function: Basic Swarm ground attack unit  
/Hit points: 35  
/Armor: 1  
/Speed: 3  
/Attack: 5  
/Attack Speed: 0,7s/a

"They're faster than drones," Harry continued after his short break. "Sorry, I didn't exactly know myself. They can take less damage, but they attack twice as fast as drones and are way more agile."

"That's all?" Neville inquired, obviously not impressed.

"Well, two hatch from one larvae. And they can climb trees, I think."

"So they are cheaply produced basic fighters who are actually bred only for that job." Ron said. "That's actually quite good, especially if they can attack from a distance."

Harry shook his head. "No, unfortunately they don't. I guess I need to find a solution for that problem."

"Um, Harry that's interesting, but why didn't you build them right away?" Neville said, raising his eyebrows.

The last Potter sighed. "I obviously don't need fifty workers. The reason is I couldn't. I needed a spawning pool first and that wasn't finished until the middle of the battle."

"Right," Hermione said, obviously not caring to hear more about Zerglings anymore. "You mentioned an overlord, what is it?"

"Ugh... an overlord is sort of a living airship," Harry said, showing its form with his hands. "They also help me with controlling the swarm. They're intelligent."

"If they're intelligent, why didn't you use them for attack?" Ron asked.

"They can't really attack. Would you fly a giant sentient flesh bag into a horde of acromantula?"

"Well, you could have used them as bombers," Hermione said.

Harry shook his head. "I could, I guess, if I had bombs that is."

"Harry?" Luna said, changing the topic. "Did the Wrackspurts infest you yesterday, or why were you convinced something couldn't be true."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you'd been eerily silent, just sitting there in your armchair, you know," the eccentric Ravenclaw said. "And then suddenly, from one moment to the next you cried out: 'Merlin, it can't be true.' You scared the Intumpflers out of my mind!"

"Oh... that... yes," Harry said. He really didn't know how he felt about IT. "Um... I'm not sure how to put it, but I learned the swarm is essentially immortal. As long as I live no Zerg really dies. Their soul or psionic spirit just gets reborn in another Zerg."

"And if you die?" Neville asked. "What happens then?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't know." Then he grinned. "I haven't tried it yet."

"And I hope you won't!" Hermione quickly interjected.

Luna and Ron laughed. Harry wouldn't try something like that... would he?

"Whatever," Neville said. "You were complaining about your overlords yesterday..."

"Yeah, although they're supposed to be intelligent they always ask me for permission," the last Potter sighed. "I mean seriously, why don't they just take the drones and bring some acromantula corpses to the evolution chamber? Why do they need to ask me if they want to capture an acromantula alive to infest it when I'm so tired I can barely stand?"

"Infest?" Luna echoed. "Your swarm gives acromantula Flubberwunks and Wrackspurts?"

"No, but they give them a bug, virus, whatever," Harry said. "And that somehow makes them member of the swarm... Improves them, the overlord says."

"You aren't serious are you?" Ron said, his eyes widening, "Instead of horrible monster spiders you create horrible super monster spiders?"

"Um... yeah... but unlike a certain person I can make sure they really don't eat my friends."

"How does that work?" Hermione asked, ignoring her boyfriend and the implied danger. "You can't just make a creature yours. I mean they have an immune system which should anything foreign."

That was a good point, how did infestation actually work. Viruses were either defeated by your immune system or killed you sooner or later. That was Harry's state of knowledge. He'd never heard of anything that could actually take over a body and change it.

"I mean," Harry's bushy haired friend continued, "mom and dad explained that a virus enters your cells and rewrites the DNA so that the cells produce more of the virus. It causes a chain reaction until it either destroys the body or is stopped by the immune system. What you describe, Harry..."

"Um... Hermione," Ron said as his girlfriend took a break, "what is a cell and what is DNA." Seeing the strange looks on the others faces he elaborated. "Sorry, mom homeschooled us and she never mentioned something like cells and this DNA stuff."

"Well, I don't know this DNA stuff either," Neville said," but I know what a cell is. You remember when we were working with the Maxacellara plant? That thing that was made up from large round blobs that somehow stuck together?"

Ron nodded. "Yeah, it looked really strange, but what does it have to do with cells?"

"That's pretty simple," Neville stated. "Each of those large blobs was a cell. Every larger being has those. Typically they are much much smaller though. I mean each of us is made up from billions of them and each of them has to work right so that you can live."

"Not every cell has to function for you to survive," Hermione interjected. "They die pretty regularly, but you'd have to overwrite the majority of them to take over an organism. And you'd somehow need to do it without killing it."

"I'm built from billions of small blobs... I can't believe it," Ron said, looking down at his arm, shaking it.

"Yes you are," Hermione smiled, her boyfriends antics could always brighten her day. "And each of those cells contains your code of life, or DNA. It's really Demoribo...nucleid...acid or something. Even I can't really remember the name."

"Why is the code of life an acid?" Luna asked, looking at Hermione's hair.

"I don't know. I know it exists, I have an idea what it does. Merlin's Beard, I'm learning wizardry not biology or medicine," Hermione sighed, but seeing Luna's disappointed expression she relented. "I can write my parents to send me a book, if you really want to know."

"I don't really understand how it works either," Harry said, remembering Hermione's original question, "but I know the evolution chamber produces a virus, that virus is injected into the organism, then the organism is dumped into the spawning pool, and then stuff hopefully works and the organism becomes part of the swarm."

It hadn't worked so far. The overlords had sacrificed five acromantula already, yet the results weren't all that spectacular. The first three had just died, and the last two had some wild growing of Zerg flesh until it ripped and destroyed their bodies. Well, at least they had some progress. They still had four acromantula left and the overlords were optimistic they only needed two further tries to get it right.

"Hopefully? That doesn't sound like it worked," Hermione shook her head. "Not that I care for acromantula..."

Harry shook his head. "It didn't."

"Whatever.." Hermione shrugged.. "You mentioned an evolution chamber?"

"Yeah, um... did we miss everything that happened since last Sunday?" Neville asked.

"I morphed the first overlord and drones on Sunday," Harry said. "I morphed more of them Monday evening. Tuesday I started to morph both evolution chamber and spawning pool. The evolution chamber was finished on Wednesday and yesterday I had the acromantula battle and finished the spawning pool."

{Overmind, the evolution chamber has finished its research into creep adaptation,} the hivemind suddenly interrupted, reminding Harry of his ongoing project.

"Well, that was convenient," Harry said, thinking loudly.

"Mate, what do you mean?" Ron asked. "You kinda spaced out for a moment again."

"Oh, I also ordered a research project in the evolution chamber," Harry said. "I just learned it was finished."

"Research?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, that sounds interesting," Luna added.

"Alright, I'll explain," Harry said, raising his hands. "Ron suggested to adapt the creep and the look of my buildings to the environment and I ordered the chamber to do that to the creep. Actually that remind me..."

{Did you already implement the creep change?} Harry asked the swarm's subconscious.

{No, the Hivemind is waiting for the Overmind's command.}

{Just do it,} Harry sent, sighing as he returned his attention to his friends. "Sorry, I just had to order the exchange done."

"The Wrackspurts again," Luna said, laughing at Harry.

"No, the hiveminds," Harry groaned looking desperately at his friends. "Does anyone know how to get a hivemind to anticipate your wishes?"

"I don't know... maybe you should just try to teach it or something," Neville suggested. "Anyway, what do the Zurgs... Zergs eat?"

"Yeah, Zergs," Harry said. "I think they eat creep... Yeah, they do. Man, this swarm memory is really confusing."

"Thanks, I just wanted to know if I needed to fear for my plants," Neville said, taking out his homework. "Um... does anyone else have questions or can we begin with the work?"

"Yes, me," Harry grinned, just remembering something he wanted to know weeks ago. "Hermione, remember when I asked Flitwick about the magical core stuff?"

The bushy haired Gryffindor nodded, while the rest were also clearing their bags. Only Luna was looking interested at them.

"Alright... When I started the swarm - you know, built the hatchery, it needed something called psionic energy to begin," Harry said. "I'm pretty sure it is the same thing as magic since the hivemind measured the power of my spells in psionic energy units."

"That certainly reminds me of what Silious the Smart wrote," Hermione said scratching her head. "How they measured spells in magical core units."

Now the others were also listening. Magical theory wasn't something well taught at Hogwarts. They mostly learned spell casting.

"Well... the swarm can give me or other members the psionic energy it creates, yet apparently wands use the magic in the air," Harry continued his problem. "It does somehow understand how to use psionic energy for specific purposes, I think, although it has no idea how magic works..."

"So you want to know if _I_ know how magic works?" Hermione inquired, raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah... I kinda hoped you might know something," Harry nodded. "I tested this a bit and if I use **Accio **like this," Ron's essay flew into Harry's hand, "then I use two psionic energy units and somehow will the magic around the object to gather it and bring it to me."

Hermione slowly nodded in agreement. "Right, that's how it's supposed to work."

"Yeah, that's how magic works," Harry stated. "However, psionic energy is different. If I really used psionics instead of wandless magic I should emit the psionic energy encasing the essay myself and then move it towards myself."

"Um... Harry, would you mind giving my essay back," Ron interrupted their discussion. "I find this very interesting, but I have to finish the work for Sluggy, you know."

Hermione, totally ignoring her boyfriend, said: "You mean magic is some sort of automatic psionic? And I should be able to do the psionics myself?"

"I think so," Harry replied nodding. "Yes to both of it. Apparently, we never really train our psionic talent. I mean I just tested stuff out a bit and my 'psionic energy' rose by five points. Magic just lets things happen without us understanding what we actually do. I mean I'm waving a wand around and say _stupor _and someone at the other end of the wand drops unconscious..."

Another short nod came from Hermione. "I understand what you mean, but I don't really have an answer, either... Well, I guess I know what to do during my library time tomorrow."

"Thank you, I wouldn't have any idea where to begin searching," Harry said, smiling at his female best friend. "We need to do homework though... do you know why Atalparter's law is important for the memory potion?"

XXXHPASXXX

Just moments ago, Harry had been in Morpheus' sweet embrace, yet now he was awake.

"**Enervate**... **Enervate**!" he heard Hermione casting as he slowly pulled his blanket away. What the hell was going on, he wondered.

"Harry, Neville, Ron!" their bushy haired friend yelled silently, obviously not wanting to wake everyone up. "Luna's being distressed, the alarm went off!"

"Fuck!" Harry cussed. Their alarm and tracking spells had been a last measure, he certainly didn't expect them to go off in the middle of the night.

"Are you sure she's not just having a nightmare?" Ron tiredly inquired as Harry pulled the marauders map out of his bag.

"_I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," _Harry recited tapping the map with his wand. "Merlin's pants! She's not in the Ravenclaw dorms!"

Neville bowed over the map, looking for himself. "Yeah, she wouldn't sleep in the astronomy tower. She didn't even have astronomy tonight!"

"Okay, lets go!" Harry said, jumping up, running towards the dormitory's exit.

His friends followed, rushing down the stairs and through the common room.

"Do you know what Edgecombe, Chang and Desford were doing, running away from the tower?" Neville asked as I they ran through the empty nightly corridors.

"Pha," Ron snorted. "What do you think? I'd bet my ass they're the reason for Luna's distress." What else would they want there, wasn't it obvious?

"Less talking, more running," Harry ordered as they sprinted down the stairs to the corridor that led towards the astronomy tower.

"I really hope they haven't done anything dangerous to her," Hermione worried.

"It doesn't matter," Neville decided as they reached the long staircase that led towards the Hogwarts observatory. "They really went over the line now."

"Yeah, I don't care for their reasons anymore," Harry panted, as they reached the first floor. "I can't believe I taught two of them in the DA. Maybe they were looking for Luna? Hermione, say when we're in the right floor."

"As if... Cho Chang didn't give a shit for Luna..." Hermione wheezed, running past the second floor corridor. "We still need to go up, by the way."

"Fucking bastards!" Ron shouted, correcting himself, "Um... bitches..."

"Fuck them, for all I care they can die," Hermione stated angrily, gasping, as she pointed towards the astronomy classroom. "We need to go there."

Afterwards she shot a quick **Alohomora **at the door and ran into the room behind, instantly veering towards a large cupboard in the right corner of the classroom. Harry panted behind her, only barely able to hold his fury. This reminded him too much of his own experiences at the hands of the Dursleys. Once that had been normal, yet now he knew better.

Another **Alohomora **spell went towards the cupboard, and left Hermione stunned in front of it.

"**Specialis Revelio!**" Harry's best female friend shouted, just as Harry saw Luna hanging seemingly crucified at the back of the cabinet. There was no sound at all even though her mouth was opened wide, obviously crying with terror. Luna wasn't even wearing a pajama, just dressed in her underwear.

"Fuck, a timed sticking charm as well as a silencio," Hermione swore while otherwise seemingly calm. "She's not good enough to cast spells wandless and silent. The fact she'd need to do it undirected makes escape an impossibility."

"**Finite Incantatem!**" Harry bellowed, not caring for the details. He just wanted to help his friend.

Stepping forward, Harry caught Luna as the sticking charms stopped working. Her legs were collapsing as she fell towards the ground, she obviously couldn't hold herself anymore.

"Harry," she said, tears were welling from her eyes. "The nargles got me again."

"We know," Harry said, enveloping the drained, hysterical girl in his arms, lifting her out of the cupboard.

"Is she hurt?" Ron asked worried if somewhat insensitive.

"What do you think?" Hermione retorted, but missing any venom. She knew her boyfriend well enough.

"Assholes, bitches!" Neville cussed. "Fuck, what are we going to do now?"

"Take her to Gryffindor tower," Hermione decided, throwing a quick glance at Harry and the girl in his arms. "She isn't physically hurt and I won't let her back to Ravenclaw tonight... Harry, I think you can let her down now."

"Okay," Harry said loosening his embrace. "But I won't ever let her down again."

"Yeah we really need to do something," Ron agreed. "Although... let's go, this room is cool."

"Luna, are you okay?" Hermione asked absently as she transfigured a vase on the window sill into a jacket.

"No... yes..." Luna sobbed.

This time it was Hermione's turn to embrace the distressed girl. "It'll be alright. Just come with us."

The return to Gryffindor tower was a rather solemn affair. Sweating in their pajamas the four Gryffindors tried to soothe their Ravenclaw friend. Harry was glad she wasn't hysterical, considering her situation was almost as bad as when he woke up bound to a cross and got to watch Voldemort's resurrection. At least he'd known what was going on then. Luna probably just woke up in the darkness.

Still, none of them were happy. They'd hoped to prevent something like this, yet the only thing they managed to do was to shorten Luna's suffering. They couldn't let it continue like this, that much was for sure. The big question was what to do now. Whatever he planned next, punishing the assholes would play a big part in Harry's plans and considering the expressions on his friends' faces they were probably thinking along the same lines.

"Fortuna draconis est," Harry shouted the new password, waking up the fat lady.

"She's no Gryffindor," the picture replied grumpy as she swung aside.

"I don't bloody care," Harry snarled, unleashing his anger at the portrait. "If you have complaints then bring them to McGonagall."

"I will."

"Whatever," Hermione sighed. "Harry you go first and the rest of us will follow you, okay?"

Harry only nodded, quickly climbing through the portrait hole and into the common room.

"What now?" Ron asked, completing their group as he jumped out of the portrait hole.

"I guess I can sleep on a couch," Luna whispered.

"No," Hermione shook her head. "You'll come with me. I won't let you be alone after an event like this."

"Good idea," Harry said, then continued looking at Luna: "You really shouldn't be alone tonight."

"Uaaaaaaaah," Ron yawned. "I agree, let's just go to bed. Good thing tomorrow is a Saturday."

"Good night, everyone," Luna said, being pulled towards the girls' dormitory by Hermione.

XXXHPASXXX

**Authors Note: ****I hope I didn't offend anyone with my choice of bullies, but I figured they'd just start picking on Luna again as soon as she lost the support of her friends. Considering how Harry abandoned Luna in Canon after the end of the DA, it wouldn't be a big surprise if the bullies decided to come back from the woodwork. About my choice: Well, I never liked Cho very much, Edgecombe snitch is an obvious choice and Desford is a Ravenclaw I pulled from the Wiki. Apparently she appeared in Playstation games or something.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the story. Thank you for reading.**

**Edit: Sorry for the multiple mistakes. I guess my beta was tired… Anyway, I hope this version fixed it.**


	11. Chapter 12

**Chapter Published: **02.03.2013

* * *

_Disclaimer:__ Elements of this story are copyrighted by other parties. My wallet complains, but I own neither StarCraft nor the Harry Potter franchise__. _

_If you thought I did, I'd love to know where you got that idea. Everything not owned by J. K. Rowling and Blizzard Entertainment (or whatever their name is right now) is owned by me._

_Thanks to Richard for betaing this story._

XXXHPASXXX

**Part 12:**

When he came down from the boys dormitory the next morning, Harry saw a trove of girls standing in front of their own dormitory's entrance. They were excitedly chatting about something. The reason soon became obvious, as he repeatedly heard the name Luna. He brought the girl to Gryffindor, so Harry figured it was his duty to find out what was going on. Coming closer, Harry listened in on the conversation.

"I didn't know you also liked girls," Lavender teased Hermione. "Ron not enough for you? Seriously though, why was Luna in your bed?"

It was just about Luna sleeping in the Gryffindor dormitories. Harry was relieved. At least Luna hadn't discovered Snorkacks in Parvati's Pajama or something.

"I'd like to know that myself," Professor McGonagall's voice interrupted his thoughts, coming from the entrance. The head of house apparently had just climbed through the entrance and was flattening her clothes now. "As well as why Mr. Potter thought the fat lady should bring her complaints to me."

"Um... I'm sorry," the completely overwhelmed Luna said from the center of the commotion.

"You shouldn't," Hermione sighed. "Should I just tell them?"

Luna shook her head.

"Okay..." Hermione said. "Professor, can we talk about this in your office?"

"Um..."

"It's really important," Hermione said. "Look, I didn't let Luna sleep in my bed for fun."

"And there goes theory one..." Harry heard Parvati mumble in the background.

Did they really think Hermione was a lesbian? Did they know her that badly? Hermione would never be outed that way, caught in bed with her girlfriend. Considering how long it took her to get together with Ron one might wonder, but the very idea to ever catch Hermione unprepared was ridiculous.

Meanwhile, the speculations in the common room continued. "Don't tell me the Ravenclaws did something again," Ginny said to her brother, looking angry. Luna had been her friend when they were children, but they'd grown apart at Hogwarts.

A yawn escaped from Ron, apparently he'd been woken up the the racket, but wasn't fully awake yet. On the other side of the room Hermione was frantically talking at McGonagall, obviously trying to convince her.

Harry missed Ron's answer since McGonagall had come to a decision. "Alright, enough. Everyone involved into last night's adventure follow me to my office, please."

"Great, a hike before breakfast," Harry mumbled. "Just what I need..."

"Yes, I too would like an office closer to your common room, alas I have to live in exile," the head of house joked. "Everyone is clothed?"

Everyone was dressed. Even Ron had somehow managed to fall into his clothes when he left his bed and Luna had borrowed the stuff she was wearing from Hermione and Parvati. Satisfied McGonagall turned around and left the room, huffing as she climbed through the portrait hole.

"No wonder she's so rarely in the common room," Harry remarked, grinning at Ron.

"Yeah, mate, the entrance isn't very professor friendly, is it?"

"Boys, hurry," Hermione reminded, already halfway through the portrait hole.

"What do you think McGonagall is going to do to them?" Harry heard Seamus say somewhere behind them.

"Dunno..." was the last word he could hear from Dean's answer, however the portrait had already closed then, sending a smirk at Harry.

McGonagall was almost running, leading them quickly through the building and down to the bridge that led over to the outer part of the castle and her office. Just as they were walking over the connection, Harry was distracted.

{Overmind, the research into generating more energy has been successful,} the hivemind sent, reminding Harry of something he'd pretty much forgotten. {We have combined superfluous swarm DNA with some gathered from local sources to create the deep creeper. It can be morphed from a Drone and spreads creep. It won't be detectable at all.}

"Ouch," Harry yelled, as he ran against a stone wall.

"Harry?" Hermione said, "What are you doing?"

"Nothing..."

"Mr Potter," McGonagall said, "running into a wall is not nothing."

"Sorry, I was distracted," Harry quickly reassured as he walked into the building, finding the door this time. "I was just thinking."

"I suggest you continue your sleep after our conversation," his head of house said. "I'd send you back right now, but we need to clear this up."

Harry shrugged. While he was glad that McGonagall was looking out for their privacy he really didn't want to explain the wall. Good that she thought he was just tired. Merlin knew what she'd have done if she actually got an inkling of the truth. He didn't dare try to answer to the hivemind on their way to the deputy headmistress's office.

"Alright, explain, now," Professor McGonagall said after they'd arrived. The door wasn't all the way closed, but she wanted answers already.

Harry sighed pulling out a chair from a corner, yet Hermione took this as her cue: "Professor, after Harry found Luna completely bruised in the infirmary we put some tracking spells on her… Well, I did."

"Yes?" the teacher nodded, motioning her prefect to continue.

"Um… they went off yesterday night. And after waking the boys we went searching for her," Hermione explained, taking a seat in front of McGonagall's desk. "We found her practically naked, crucified with timed sticking charms at the back of a cupboard in the astronomy tower. She was silenced on top of it."

"Are you serious?" Professor McGonagall gasped.

"No, we're just covering for Hermione's lesbian relationship with Luna," Neville snarked. "Of course we're serious."

It was a rare thing to see Neville like this, Harry thought. Of course, even though Neville rarely acted, whenever he did he always had a very good reason. McGonagall should know this, Merlin, the boy had even stood against them to stop their adventure in first year.

"Mr. Longbottom," the stern professor reprimanded, yet there was no venom in her voice. "I suppose I can understand, but why did you take her to Gryffindor tower?"

"Where else should we have taken her?" Ron asked. "Ravenclaw tower where she'd been abducted from her bed?"

Their head of house slowly nodded. "Very well, I believe your actions are acceptable, no a formidable example for all Gryffindor. Next time, you might want to consider bringing her to the hospital wing though."

"And wake Madam Pomfrey?" Harry asked, raising his eyebrows. "I guess she would understand. However, this also worked and we didn't need to kick Madam Pomfrey out of her bed."

"Miss Lovegood, what is your opinion on this?" McGonagall asked, slowly regaining her balance.

"The Nargles stole my things before…" Luna said airily. Distracting herself from the memories, Harry thought. "I thought it would be better… we were together in the DA last year, but this year everything is back to normal."

"Normal?!" the deputy headmaster echoed wide eyed. "Merlin!"

"They did this before?" Ron asked as shocked as the rest of them.

Luna shook her head. "No, but my clothes suddenly disappeared, I tripped on stairs and had strange things happen to me."

"This is enough," Professor McGonagall decided. "I don't know what Filius is doing…"

"Madam Pomfrey said something about Goblin methods," Harry interjected. "A bit of peer pressure didn't harm Goblins, so it was alright or something."

"Humans are not Goblins," the teacher said, sinking into her chair. "Merlin's beard, does he want to raise sociopaths?"

Nobody knew what to answer. The four Gryffindors had always thought Flitwick a brill teacher, yet he had allowed the Ravenclaws to bully Luna like this. Maybe Goblins really were that different. On the other hand Flitwick was supposed to be only part Goblin, so who knew?

When McGonagall straightened herself up it was obvious she'd made her decision. "Miss Lovegood, I can't let you go back there," she stated. "Who knows what they'll try next. They obviously have no hesitation to hurt you… You'll stay in Gryffindor for now."

"Thank you Professor," Harry burst out, his worries dissolving. He hadn't known what to do if McGonagall had sent the girl back to Ravenclaw. Well... there were those three spells and he had three names. It would make for a three strike system. Still, he was thankful such radical solutions wouldn't be necessary.

The others agreed with Harry's sentiment. Meanwhile, Luna just cried.

"But… my Mom…" the blonde girl wept.

"It's alright Luna," Hermione said, hugging the girl. "Your mother wouldn't be disappointed with you. She would be disappointed with her house."

As usual Hermione knew more than the rest of them, he certainly had no idea the woman had been a Ravenclaw. Whether it was Hogwarts a history or something else, Harry could only guess. He certainly didn't know it was for her mother that Luna persevered that long in that house.

"Yes, Miss Lovegood. Your mother would be proud of you," McGonagall said. "There is really no reason to be ashamed. I'll order the house elves to get you a bed in the fifth year's dormitory and transfer your possessions."

"Thank you Professor," Luna said, rubbing the tears from her eyes.

"I've just done my duty, no reason to thank me," the deputy headmistress said. She sighed: "I really should have known this earlier… Mr. Potter, do you have an idea who was responsible for this?"

Harry involuntarily took a step backwards. He certainly wanted those bitches punished, but on the other hand he wanted to keep the Marauders' map secret. Not that he thought the stern Professor was an impostor like Moody, yet some secrets were better kept secret if one wanted to preserve their usefulness.

"As much as I can sympathize with you, Mr. Potter," McGonagall said, having taken his silence as defiance, "I can't allow you vigilantism."

"That's not it," Harry quickly said, shaking his head. "I can't exactly prove it, but I have a good suspicion who is responsible."

McGonagall raised her eyebrows. "You saw them? And let them go?"

This was what he'd feared. The Transfiguration teacher wanted answers he wasn't willing to give. He didn't know what he should do now.

"We used some surveillance spells," Hermione interjected. "This way we could determine that Marietta Edgecombe, Cho Chang and Desford were leaving the astronomy tower in a hurry."

Harry released a breath. Whenever he was in trouble, Hermione was there to bust him out. He didn't know what he'd do without his best friend.

"The astronomy tower?" McGonagall repeated. "And you had surveillance spells ready... Like the Marauders' map? Or did you make one yourself."

'Shit,' Harry thought. 'Distraction failed, she actually knew of it.'

"Hah. Mr. Potter," the deputy headmistress grinned, "if you want to hide things you should learn to control your facial expressions better." She shook her head as she saw his expression. "Don't worry, your father would be proud of you. Did you get it from Mr. Black?"

"It's complicated," Harry sighed, just as a growl escaped his tummy. "Um... I don't want to be rude, but can we go to breakfast?"

Professor McGonagall nodded and smiled. "Yes, you can. I don't want to interrupt you any longer. By the way, 50 points to Gryffindor for all of you." Then she grew serious again. "Miss Lovegood, if you ever have problems like that... or something you see as a problem, just come to me. I can't promise I can help with everything, but I'll try."

Luna just nodded, sniffing.

"It'll be alright Miss Lovegood," the teacher said, soothing the drained girl. "You can go everyone... I still have work to do," she sighed. "We really need more teachers. I mean by Merlin's beard, how could this have happened?" The deputy headmaster actually balled her fists. "I thought Filius had his bunch under control. Abduction from the dormitory, crucified naked in the astronomy tower… and now Albus isn't even here."

Harry had never seen McGonagall so flabbergasted before. Sure, there had been some instances of nasty 'pranks' before, but even the Weasley twins got the message after two month's detention with Snape. They weren't evil after all; they just had a different conception of fun than most other people.

"Thank you for your help, Professor," Neville said, suddenly raising his voice again. "I guess we'll see you Monday."

"I hope you'll see me prior to that, or I too might need a rescue mission," the deputy headmistress joked. "I wish I could go back in time and kill whoever invented paperwork. But now out with you, I have work to do..."

Harry was quite thankful he could finally go. It had gone well, but he was glad to be out of that office. It was always a near thing with McGonagall. Considering how the house rivalry had developed over the last years... he hadn't been sure how she'd take the fact they'd let a Ravenclaw sleep over. Thankfully, she hadn't come down on them for it. Still, she had disappointed the golden trio more than just once, so he hadn't been sure.

He didn't know the others' reasons but they were probably thinking along the same lines, considering how fast they left the office. Even Luna seemed to cheer up, now that they were out. The deputy headmistress certainly was quite intimidating. At least the blonde newly-minted Gryffindor wasn't crying anymore. Harry preferred even her Snorkack hunts to seeing her down like that.

Without further discussion the group went on their way to the great hall. Neville was trying to cheer up Luna while Ron and Hermione did their lovey dovey bickery thing. Meanwhile, Harry used the opportunity to have a conversation with the hivemind. It seemed to have something important to say, so he shouldn't ignore it.

{Hivemind,} Harry sent, {you mentioned a method to spread creep.}

{Yes Overmind,} it replied just as Harry absently stepped around an armor. {The deep creeper morphs from a drone and is invisible. It comes with a ground defense system to shoot spikes out of the creep.}

/Deep Creeper:  
/Function: Burrowed/Invisible, Spreads creep, stationary defense  
/Hit Points 200  
/Armor: 1  
/Attack: 20 dmg  
/Creep Range: 200 meters radius.  
/needs to be build on creep.  
/Normal morph: 2 days; 4 tons biomass; 2 gseu bioenergy.

That was way more than just spreading creep. It was hidden and a stationary defense... If he had had something like this against the acromantula he could have reduced the army in half before they'd reached the drones. It might also prove useful against the centaurs... On the other hand he shouldn't give them a reason to attack him. Overgrowing their grass or whatever the horse like beings ate with creep wouldn't exactly enamor the swarm to them.

{Ok, build them here, here and here,} Harry mentally said as he marked three positions close to the acromantula colony on his mental map. {Place two each here and here just in front of the wall} Harry sent, wanting a protection against a possible centaur attack, {and place eightin the back of our base.}

Harry wanted to spread his creep as far as possible. Each of these cost him 2 gseu Bioenergy after all. If he wanted to increase his swarm he really needed more energy. As well as creep. There might come a point where his Zerg ate the creep faster than it was regrown. Thinking about his swarm, Harry realized he needed replacement for the drones he'd lost the last few days. He'd just used 15 drones to create buildings... On the other hand he was confident that 64 Zerglings should be enough for now. They should be able to repel any acromantula force.

Thinking about acromantula... something poked Harry in his side.

"Harry, mate, we've arrived," Ron said.

Indeed, they were at the great hall. Harry remembered walking through corridors, but he'd been too focussed on the map in his mind to really follow what was going on. Good thing his friends steered him the right way. Well, they wouldn't let him fall down a bridge or tower, Harry was sure. And the swarm really needed managing, even if the overlords helped some.

"Harry?" Ron asked another time and Harry realized he hadn't said anything, just stopped walking.

"Yeah, I'm here. Mentally attending, I mean."

"Alright, lets go to the table," Neville said."

"Yeah, I'm hungry," Ron supported. "Hermione, Luna come on. Don't let the food get cold."

Hermione just shrugged, rolling her eyes as she pulled Luna with them to the Gryffindor table.

"They're here!" Dean proclaimed loudly, which earned him a glare from Ginny. Harry's heart beat pleasantly faster.

"Yes, I see," Harry heard Ginny reply. "And now everyone in the Great Hall knows."

Harry led the group to the usual place of the golden trio. Thankfully, there was some room on the bench so they didn't need to separate. He'd barely sat down that Ginny, whose place was opposite from his, asked: "So, Harry, Ron, what happened really? We heard the wildest speculations."

Harry sighed. He hadn't even gathered up his silverware. "To cut it short, Luna is now a Gryffindor."

Maybe he had spoken too loudly as Ginny wasn't the only one who dropped knife or fork in surprise.

"Are you serious?" Ginny said. "I've never heard of anyone switching houses ever before,"

"That's because it never happened before. Well, Hogwarts: a History doesn't mention it," Hermione explained. "On the other hand it didn't report about something similar to Luna's situation."

"What do you mean?" Walter Noble, the fifth years' prefect, asked. "What situation?"

Luna was shrinking into the bench next to him, so Harry took her hand soothingly. She'd probably need some time to acclimate to Gryffindor house. Hell, Harry himself had felt like this after he'd come to Hogwarts for the first time. It had just been too good to be true, he'd thought. Instead it actually had been mostly true.

"The worst case of intra-house bullying ever," Hermione said, shaking her head. "Something is really wrong with the Ravenclaws. I mean the Snakes are assholes, but at least they stick together. The claws... not so much."

"Bollocks," the prefect exclaimed, only to hold his mouth. "Um... well, fiddlesticks I mean. I don't think I want to know what they actually did, do I?"

"You don't," Ron interjected. "They didn't just go over the line, they flew over it."

Walter Noble nodded, then he turned to Luna. "Welcome to Gryffindor. Although we may not be perfect, I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun with us." Thinking he took a short break. "Some of us actually bother to learn," the prefect added, looking at Hermione and himself.

Ron and Harry laughed. Yeah, it was true, they didn't care much for learning. Noble was somewhat Percy like in his demeanor, yet he wasn't stuck up at all. He really was a good pick as a prefect, since he knew better what to led slide and what to take seriously than either Ron and Hermione... and probably himself as well, Harry had to admit. He really had more important stuff to do than running around on patrols in the evening.

"I guess we should tell everyone so there won't be further confusion," Harry said, looking at his two best friends.

"Yeah, McGonagall didn't say anything, so I guess we should explain it to the house," Ron agreed.

Hermione shook her head. "Not here, look, we weren't exactly silent, so most know what's going on anyway. Let's make it official when everyone is back in the common room this evening."

"She really doesn't need the whole hall discussing about her transfer now," Neville remarked, looking at Luna. "Or do you want everyone to know now?"

Luna shook her head. It showed on her face that she just wanted this to go away.

"Enough talking," Ron said. "I want to eat." Harry's tummy agreed.

And so they did. The conversations in the group at breakfast carefully steered around Luna's house change, yet everyone did their best to involve her. When Luna came to speak about Snorkacks, a third year muggleborn boy actually suggested they weren't a magical animal at all, but a normal beast from Australia. While his description fit with Luna's imaginations, it didn't explain why her father was searching for it in Sweden. Maybe he just got the names wrong or something.

In the end they didn't know for sure, nevertheless the third year promised to ask his parents for a book on Australian animals. Harry didn't really care either way, yet he thought it was an interesting enough discussion to listen in. He was rather glad when they finally left though, he still had something to check with the hivemind.

"Um, guys," Harry said. "I'm going to be a bit absent for now, if I walk somewhere wrong, please correct me."

"No problem, mate," Ron said, clapping harry on the shoulder. Meanwhile Hermione and Luna took a leave, going to the library.

{Adalbert, what happened to the acromantula?} Harry asked his favourite overlord as the three boy went on their way back to Gryffindor tower.

{All died save for the two last,} the overlord stated. {The second last was only a partial success, degrading the acromantula's intelligence. However it gave us deciding information for our last attempt.}

The overlord was developing a sense for dramatics, Harry thought. He wasn't all that happy about it.

{And what happened to the last one?} Harry asked impatiently.

{We used the process for human integration and combined it with the results gleaned from the previous experiments,} Adalbert explained. {The acromantula's brain is surprisingly human-like. The integration process was a total success, you should be able to feel it in the swarm.}

It was already part of the swarm? Harry concentrated on the feelings in the back of his head. Yes, there was a new one. One that didn't feel like an overlord.

{Hello,} Harry sent towards the feeling. {Who are you?}

{Hello Overmind, my name is Losagog,} the Zergmantula introduced itself. {Thank you for inserting me into the swarm.}

Inserting was a strange way to put it, Harry thought.

{Why do you thank me? Didn't I take you from your family?}

It was really curious. He didn't feel hostility or resentment at all from the giant spider. It was genuinely thankful for its assimilation.

{I am not hungry anymore. I don't hunger for our greatest threat. My stomach feels full and I am part of something bigger,} the Zergmantula replied, surprising Harry with the last statement. Acromantula were that human, they had aspirations beyond eating and spinning webs?

{I am glad you feel that way,} Harry said, and it was true. He didn't want to enslave intelligent beings. {Would you mind using your webs to secure our breeding place against the centaurs?}

Hopefully that would allow him to catch them alive. He didn't want another slaughter like the acromantula battle again. Merlin, he didn't want to kill intelligent creatures at all. If making them part of the swarm made them friendly, Harry was all for assimilation. Something Adalbert had said was still bugging him though...

{It will be my pleasure,} the Zergmantula stated, which was the truth as Harry could tell from his access to its memories. It gained pleasure from doing the wishes of the swarm, which made for a really effective assimilation method, Harry thought. Instead of fighting against the swarms control it would be rewarded for following its orders, no doing things for the betterment of the swarm. It was quite insidious, but not as bad as the imperius curse. Losagog still had its free will after all.

Interrupting his thoughts, the Zergmantula said: {If the overmind wishes I will teach the Zerglings to hunt on the web.}

Yes, the creature was definitely smart, Harry thought. It really showed initiative. That was more than his overlords did really. Maybe he should try assimilating some more acromantula if Losagog proved to be useful. He would have to hide them when Ron was around, but that was something Harry could deal with.

{Definitely,} Harry agreed with the Zergmantula. {It's a great idea.}

It was interesting to feel how Losagog felt flattered by his praise. This swarm, hivemind thing was getting progressively weirder, Harry thought. He still had something else to do. Melee units had proven disadvantageous, so he really needed something else.

{Hivemind, can you make the evolution chamber create a ranged unit. Maybe combine the Zergmantula with something else?} Harry sent. {I mean they're moving very effectively in the forest.}

{Your order will be executed,} the hivemind replied.

{Alright. Can you also find a way to have the hatchery produce more larvae as well as a way to raise the energy production of the creep?} Harry asked, wanting to get out as many orders as possible.

{We do not have enough evolution chambers,} the hivemind stated.

Harry sighed, startling his friends. The last Potter didn't realize it, though, as he was focussed on the hivemind.

{Adalbert,} Harry sent to his main overlord, ignoring the hivemind for now. {Please build two further evolution chambers and even more once we've increased the energy production. Please execute my other two research missions as soon as possible. It would be great if you could tell me whenever a research project is done.}

{Your wish is our desire, Overmind,} the overlord acknowledged Harry's oder.

The swarm was becoming more and more complicated, Harry thought sadly. And he didn't really have the time to care as much for it as he should. Merlin, he had to somehow put it into his breaks. Quickly returning to the real world, Harry realized he was already walking up to Gryffindor tower, while Ron and Neville were chatting. Yet he still hadn't checked out what the Zergmantula could actually do.

Well, there was no better time than right now, Harry thought and concentrated on the memories the hivemind had about the creature. He got some interesting statistics.

/Zergmantula:  
/Newly assimilated eight legged forest spinner.  
/Hit Points: 50  
/Psionic Energy: 50  
/Armor: 2  
/Damage: 6  
/Speed: 2,9  
/Attack Speed: 1s/a  
/Special ability: Shoot silk, spin web, Acromantula Poison.

This was interesting. Apparently the assimilation had caused latent psionic abilities in the acromantula to bloom. Now it could use the psionic energy to improve its web spinning, to actually shoot finished nets out of its abdomen. The result was even better than he'd hoped. Merlin, he could count himself lucky for the high regeneration that his drones had. The poison alone should have killed or at least slowed them.

"Harry," Neville said, ripping the young overmind from his thoughts. "We're at the common room, you need to wake up again."

Raising his hand, Harry replied: "Alright, I just need to check one last thing. I need to know how big it actually is." Meaning the swarm.

/Swarm Information  
/Swarm Members: 23; Sapients: 9; buildings 3; morphs 9; 0 larvae; 32 drones; 48 Zerglings  
/Swarm Psionic Energy: 100+50+450+75=675  
/Swarm Bioenergy: 20 gseu  
/Bioenergy income: 7,6 gseu/day  
/Bioenergy spent: 3 gseu/day  
/Swarm Biomass: 34300kg - 34300kg max  
/Morphs in progress: 6x emergency Zergling

XXXHPASXXX

**Authors Note****: I'm really busy lately with an internship, so I don't have much time answering reviews right now – well if I still want to get to write my story :). I still read them though and they're really appreciated. **

**Sorry for the delay in posting, but I was stuck in the public transport system and when I got home I was too annoyed to do anything… like the final editing. **

**Anyway, thank you for reading my story, I hope you enjoyed it.**


	12. Chapter 13

_Disclaimer:__ Elements of this story are copyrighted by other parties. My wallet complains, but I own neither StarCraft nor the Harry Potter franchise__. _

_If you thought I did, I'd love to know where you got that idea. Everything not owned by J. K. Rowling and Blizzard Entertainment (or whatever their name is right now) is owned by me._

_Thanks to Richard and Janet for betaing this story._

XXXHPASXXX

**Part 13:**

The next few days the snowstorm only increased. Looking out of a frosty window, Harry thought that it seemed as if a weather-god wanted to drown Hogwarts in the white mass. Even if he wanted to escape he was stuck in the castle, which only reminded him of Slughorn and his bloody Christmas party. Harry hadn't managed to avoid Slughorn's latest invitation to his chagrin, so he had to attend. Although the party itself might be useful, Harry wasn't so sure if it would be acceptable to be used by Slughorn that way. The Malfoy's book had shown him how Wizarding society thought about weakness...

Quidditch training was hardly possible during the weather. Only the rare periods between the snowstorms enabled Harry to train his team and to get closer to Ginny. Something that didn't seem to work, given that she was still in her relationship with Dean and it wasn't looking like they were about to break up. It sucked, Harry thought. He needed to go to a party and the girl he wanted as a date was together with someone else.

Meanwhile the energy production of his creep had reduced further as the snowfall had overwhelmed the swarm's ability to absorb the snow. While he had managed to spread the creep further over the forest, the hatchery and his buildings could store only so much water. After that point had been reached, the creep had just stopped dissolving the snow.

It wasn't all negative news, though. Even though the growth of his swarm was slowed down, his research was progressing. Since Harry wasn't the only one with winter problems, the swarm wasn't fighting other creatures of the forest. No, it was fighting the snow. Removing as much of the annoying white stuff from his precious creep, was an unending work. A work that surprisingly wasn't done by Harry's creatures alone, because the acromantula helped. It turned out they still loved to feed on the creep, causing them to remove snow on their own and allowing him to snag a lone giant spider once or twice to add them to his swarm.

Thinking about giant spiders, Harry still laughed when he thought back to the time he'd told Ron.

"Hey, Ron, guess what I just added to the swarm?"

"Some sort of creature that can attack over a distance," Ron had guessed.

Harry shook his head smirking: "Nooo... not exactly." He moved his hand in a exaggerated crawling motion. "Acromantula... sneaking around in the forest and coming to visit YOU!"

Ron had almost shit himself, Harry recalled grinning. Maybe it was a bit mean, since Ron's arachnophobia was somewhat understandable, but it wasn't like the Zergmantulas were a threat to the youngest Weasley boy. Really, as the Overmind they were an extension of his will. The Zergmantula didn't hunger for human flesh like their acromantula cousins. The assimilated spiders were exactly as threatening as Harry himself.

Meanwhile, Harry's research attempts panned out. Although he hadn't really found a way to improve the creep yet, the evolution chambers had managed to triple the larvae output of the hatchery and developed something Losagog had dubbed Acrolisk, a dumb giant spider that could shoot spikes from its back.

In Hogwarts nobody could miss that Christmas was nearing. Hagrid had already brought the traditional trees to the great hall and the teachers had enchanted the castle to give it a Christmas-like feeling. Fairies were dancing below the ceilings while gaggles of girls were chasing Harry. He still hadn't decided which date he wanted to take to Slughorn's party. Ginny wasn't going to be his date, this much was for sure, but he also didn't want to take one of the giggling fangirls.

"You need to be careful,#" Hermione told him as he ran into her in the library, fleeing from his stalkers. "I overheard some girls talking about slipping you a love potion. They were planning to use some from Fred and George, so it'll most likely work. That dreadful Romilda Vane seemed especially determined to have you invite her to Slughorn's party."

"Love potions are illegal," Harry stated, not happy someone planned to manipulate him that way. "Why didn't you confiscate them?"

"They were talking in the girls bathroom," Hermione said. "They didn't have the potions with them." Then Hermione scratched her head. "I don't think love potions are illegal. They're just not allowed at Hogwarts."

"No, they aren't exactly illegal, but using them on the heir of a house is illegal," Harry explained. "I've found an interesting book about Wizarding politics and according to what I read there I should be the heir of the house of Black. I'm not sure what that means though. The Blacks kind of fell out of favor in the last sixteen years."

Hermione snorted. "Yeah, I guess. Illegal or not, I just don't want to see you end up some kind of  
driven donkey, running after some stupid bitch in heat."

"Thanks for the warning, Hermione," Harry said. "I guess I need to avoid ingesting anything that has been close to those fangirls for the next days."

"I'm pretty sure Romilda Vane meant business," Hermione said. "I'll keep my eyes open but be careful around her."

May god have mercy on them if the bushy haired prefect caught them. For Hermione would not, Harry was sure. Her rule-abiding tendencies were kind of annoying most of the time but he really loved her for her protective streak.

The two of them continued to speculate about the way the potions had been smuggled into the castle. Sadly, they were too loud, or maybe it was the fact they'd talked trash about Filch in 'hearing range' of the librarian. Whatever the reason, Madam Pince decided to close the library forcing the two of them to return to Gryffindor tower.

As soon as Harry climbed out of the Portrait hole, he was approached by Romilda Vane.

"Hi, Harry," she said. "Fancy a gillywater?"#

"Um... no thanks," Harry quickly replied, inwardly groaning about Hermione's "I-told-you-so" look. "I don't like it much."

The amorous Gryffindor was sad but she gave him some Chocolate Cauldrons anyway. Harry didn't find an excuse to decline. Meanwhile, Hermione pulled him aside to the corner where Ron, Luna and Neville were sitting doing their homework again.

´

She had a point, Harry thought. Even if he really went stag that only meant Slughorn would try to help. He really didn't need the potions professor to hook him up with some kind of high society Slytherin. And girls… well, he could have asked Hermione, if she wasn't Ron's girlfriend and invited on her own. Ginny was out of the picture and he didn't exactly know all that many girls. Well he did, but he wasn't good friends with any of them.. Harry's gaze fell upon Luna…

"Um… Luna," Harry began. Being around Luna was still a bit awkward but she was his friend. "Would you like to come to Slughorn's Party with me?"

Ron was gaping at him while Neville shot him a look he didn't know how to interpret. Meanwhile, Luna just stared at him, which confused Harry a little.

"Would you? Luna?" Harry said. "Um… as friends, you know."

"Sure," the eccentric girl said, beaming at him. "I'd love to go as friends, I just wasn't sure if Dreamlings had taken residence in my ears or if you actually asked me out."

"No dreamlings," Harry grinned. While it had taken some time to get used to Luna's creatures he now actually enjoyed her fanciful creations. "I kinda need to take someone to the party and you're simply the best."

Well, Ginny would have been better but then he couldn't have everything he wanted. Katie was still out but even if she was there, Luna would win.

"Thanks, I'd like to come with you… Having friends is brilliant," Luna replied, a grin as wide as the Thames plastered her face.

At least someone got joy out of this annoying duty, Harry thought. He would have avoided it if he could manage it, yet Professor Slughorn had declared him the special guest of the party. He couldn't decline or look like a shit. Bloody sneaky Professor… Truly Slytherin in his way. He could thank Merlin that Snape wasn't that way or he'd have a real problem.

"You did great taking Luna to the party," Ginny told him that evening during Dinner. "She's so excited, she's bobbing up and down on the couches in the common room."

While Ginny being friendly to him might have raised his mood, the fact she went over to Dean as soon as she saw him was another downer. Damn, he should have just swept her from her feet when she still was a fangirl. Although, she was barely better than Romilda Vane then. Nothing he could do about it now, Harry thought sighing.

"Um mate, what are you sighing about," Ron asked.

"Just thinking," Harry said, quickly searching for a distraction. "Did you know Luna was infested by jumperdingers."

"Jumper what?" Ron raised his eyebrows, while Hermione only grinned.

"Jumperdingers," Harry repeated. "Apparently, she's jumping around in the common room."

"Don't tell me Luna is infectious," Neville said. "You can't have Wrackspurts, can you?"

The conversation devolved from there. In the following days, news of Harry dating Luna spread all over the school. A certain Ravenclaw clique, which still had some well-deserved vengeance coming, had joined the Slytherins in smearing his name. Harry didn't really care. They'd become outsiders even in Ravenclaw. Cho had been thrown off the team. Unsportsmanlike conduct was the reason, Harry had heard through the grapevine.

They still wanted revenge, but Hermione had warned Harry and Ron off.

"Guys," she'd said. "If anything happens to someone from Ravenclaw right now we're the prime suspects. We need to keep our heads down for now, so we  
should use the time to find a fitting punishment.."

Harry and Ron were forced to agree, Hermione was right as usual. Only Neville seemed to grumble. He'd really taken the way they treated Luna badly. On the other hand, Luna adapted great to Gryffindor. Sure, she still didn't have that many friends in her year, but Ginny had taken up their childhood friendship again and she also had her rescuers as friends now. Harry didn't know when it had happened but even to Ron she wasn't Loony anymore.

As Slughorn's party neared, Harry thought about his research projects. He'd ordered two new ones: Find ways to improve all Zerg as a permanent job for one and to get rid of the mounting snow walls around the hatchery's ground. Drones weren't exactly good at shoveling snow around. He hoped for new buildings or units. There was an insane amount of DNA saved in his original familiar, the main job of the evolution chambers was to find a way to recombine it in a useful way. In the meantime Harry's army was growing with each day.

The day of Slughorn's Christmas party Harry had already stopped his unit production. He'd been forced to create new clearings to hide his new overlords. Thousands of Zerglings, were playing near the hatchery or jumping around in the nets his Zergmantula had spread between the trees. The swarm was ready, now Harry only needed a target for its ire.

Although he'd named Luna his date, it seemed like many girls still hadn't given up on their quest. He was offered sweets when he was alone. And when he met Luna in the Gryffindor common Room in the night just before the party the ex-Ravenclaw was showered with evil glares. Luna seemed to shrug it off. She really looked rather nice in her spangled silver robes and her red Christmas cap. Maybe a bit odd, but nice like a Christmas elf from the muggle TV. The outfit totally fit with her glittery blonde hair.

"Hermione and Ginny helped me," Luna explained, guessing Harry's thoughts.

"You certainly did a great job," Harry smiled at his date. "You look stunning."

She really did. The nasty glares were mostly jealousy but Harry wasn't sure whether it was for her date or her looks. He hadn't lied. Without her radish earrings and the butterbeer cork necklace she didn't look weird but beautiful.

"Um… hi btw," Harry said, remembering what he wanted to do. "Shall we get going then?"#

Luna nodded smiling. "Yes, but you need to lead the way. I have no idea where to go."

"It's Slughorn's office," Harry said, grabbing her hand. "Just follow me."

When they were out of hearing range of the chattering masses, Harry whispered: "I've heard a vampire is coming." He really found the silence uncomfortable.

"Rufus Scrimgeour?" Luna asked, cocking her head.

"No, the other kind of Vampire," Harry grinned. "A real bloodsucker that sleeps... um... dies in a coffin."

"Oh those… Well, they're not that much more dangerous than a muggle," Luna stated, . "Just a bit faster, but they can't use real magic. It's theorized it's all used to keep the body moving."

"And the hypnotizing," Harry added. "For a wizard it's easy to resist, but muggles don't have magic."

"I guess," Luna shrugged. "Still, Daddy thinks politicians are more dangerous than the real blood suckers."

Harry nodded. "He's most likely right... Look, here we are."

Opening the door for his date - Harry had asked Hermione what he was supposed to do - Harry looked into Slughorn's office. Either the man had the largest office of the school, or he'd helped with enlarging charms. Fairies were flying around in a lamp at the ceiling, each glowing dot helped to illuminate the tent-like room. They were so nice and inconspicuous. Their dance spread a good mood all over the room. Something inside him wanted the DNA.

"Harry, m'boy!" boomed Slughorn, almost as soon as Harry and Luna had squeezed in through the door. "Come in, come in, so many people I'd like you to meet!"#

The way the meticulously dressed man gripped him, it seemed he feared Harry would escape his social event again. Harry could only hope to make the best out of this activity. Suffering long enough for it to be polite to leave wasn't something he wanted to do. Maybe there even was some way for him to use this... It was a new way of thinking for Harry, but raising his swarm had taught him only a fool would throw away a good opportunity. Still, Harry didn't want to be alone with the socialite teacher, so he waved Luna to follow them.

Slughorn dragged him over to meet a somewhat famous author, apparently the partner, or maybe watcher of the vampire Luna and him had talked about. After the introduction the author, Eldred Worple, didn't take long to get to down to business.

"I've heard rumors you planned writing a biography," the author said, surprising Harry. "An excellent idea in my opinion."

"Er... I guess so," Harry said. "But I have to admit that rumor is new to me."

"Just as modest as Horace described!" said Worple. "But seriously" — his manner changed; it became suddenly utterly serious— "I would be delighted to write it myself— people are craving to know..."#

"Wait a second," Harry interrupted. "What do you mean write it yourself? Why would I actually want that?"

"I doubt that you have both the free time and the motivation to write an autobiography yourself," Mr. Worple said. "You'd get money and an unbiased version of your life out to the public."

"I don't really need the money that badly, but the latter sounds interesting..." Harry slowly nodded, but then he shook his head. "The idea of a biography that contains fact and not just fiction is rather enticing, I have to admit. Yet I'm rather reluctant to allow someone else to describe my personal history. I'm sure you remember Ms. Skeeter's excesses two years ago and the Ministry controlled smear campaign last year..."

"Ah... yes, I think I can understand your concerns," Mr. Worple admitted. "Still, I'm certain we can find some kind of agreement that will benefit both of us. Say, if you'd grant me a few interviews, maybe four or five sessions, the book could be finished within months. It wouldn't even take much effort on your part, ask Sanguini here..." He turned towards his vampire companion, but that one had snuck away, sneaking up behind some Hufflepuff girls.

The author quickly jumped towards his vampire friend and dragged him away, stuffing his mouth with a sort of bloody pasty. Afterwards, he quickly returned, shooting a nasty glare at the apologetic looking vampire.

"I'm sorry Mr. Potter, where were we?" Mr. Worple asked.

Before Harry could say anything Luna interjected: "Hello to you. You were suggesting that Harry allows you to write his biography."

"Ah... yes, exactly, Miss..."

"Lovegood, Sir. Do you think your vampire friend has been infested by Wrackspurts?"

The author shook his head in confusion. He obviously didn't know what to make of Luna's comment. Turning towards his vampire friend, he quickly grabbed the being. "Sanguini, please pull yourself together. This is important."

The vampire had attempted to stalk off yet again. Although from what Harry had learned in defense, the event most likely was like a giant buffet for Sanguini. Maybe it was understandable that the being had problems keeping his calm.

Turning back to Luna, Worple inquired: "Do you know something that can help against these Wrackspurts? I've lived with vampires over a year and never heard about this illness."

"I'm sure Luna is more than willing to explain all about Wrackspurts later," Harry said, quickly interfering with his date, "but I think Professor Slughorn is already bringing another contact." Ok, Harry thought, maybe it was a bit sneaky, but he really didn't want to listen to a discussion about Luna's creatures right now.

"Oh yes, um sorry, Miss... Lovegood, I think we can talk about this later," the author quickly apologized before focussing on the Boy Who Lived. "Where was I? Yes, the sessions for your biography... You could make tons of galleons from it."

Harry slowly shook his head. "While galleons are always nice, they're the lesser issue for me. I want to get the truth out. My version of the story, you know?"

Mr. Worple nodded and Harry expanded: "The other problem is that I'm not sure if you really want to take such a high risk job. Voldemort is out there and he might try to kill you just out of spite." Harry wasn't sure if the black haired man shuddered because of the name, or the prospect of Voldemort's ire. As he continued a grin played over Harry's lips. "Especially when the book mentions some of the juicier parts of his past."

"What do you mean?" the author asked whispering, obviously intimidated. "Nobody knows about You-Know-Who's past."

"Well," Harry said smirking, "it would be rather embarrassing for him if it were known that he's the half blood son of an almost squib daughter of the inbred Gaunt family and a rich muggle she'd enslaved with a love potion."

Worple and Sanguini looked at him as if he'd grown a second head. "Are you serious?" the vampire exclaimed while Worple just grabbed a chair to drop down."

"Yes," Harry shrugged. "He told me himself during the chamber of secrets incident in my second year here. Voldemort also admitted he led the basilisk loose when he attended Howards as a pupil."

"You-Know-Who. Attended. Hogwarts?" Mr. Worple asked unbelieving.

"Yes, few know, but Tom Marvolo Riddle - after his Muggle father - was head boy and even got a plaque in the trophy room," Harry said. "He framed Hagrid for the chamber incident."

"I see why you're reluctant to let someone write the biography," Mr. Worple nodded slowly and began to look left and right worriedly.

"**Muffliato!**" Harry cast. "Now nobody should be able to hear us."

"Yes, it's great against lisnschlumps," Luna stated, reminding Harry of her presence.

The author coughed.

"Yeah, those too," Harry nodded, grinning about Luna's antics. Turning back to the author he continued: "I think you can understand my reluctance now. If any Death Eater finds out you're the ghost writer, the book is pretty much a death sentence."

"Couldn't you have cast your silence spell earlier," Worple groaned, looking around scared.

"Slughorn had already done that," Sanguini interjected. "I could feel the spell when I..."

"When you snuck after the girls, I know," Mr. Worple said. "Anyways, thank you. I'm rather relieved about that. One never knows who is visiting at parties such as this one."

"Indeed," Harry said. "Now, we only need to find a publisher who can take some pressure and a way to get it printed without showing you as the author..."

"He should write as Anonymous," Luna suggested. "This way we can always reveal his name later."

Slowly bopping his head up and down, Harry agreed. "Good idea, Luna... Mr. Worple, now we only need to find times for interviews and to discuss the profit split. I think you're more proficient at finding a publisher than I am."

"If you think so - I published with Fartlings already. On the other hand we might want to talk to Horace," the author said. "He always knows the right people."

'When you speak of the devil,' Harry thought as Professor Slughorn approached their group. He seemed rather happy carrying a Firewhiskey glass around. Meanwhile, Harry had also grabbed a butterbeer glass from the tray a house elf carried around the room. His throat was a bit dry.

"Professor," Harry said. "You're here at just the right time. Mr. Worple thought you might know a good publisher for my biography." Harry saw Slughorn's eyes glow with joy. "I'd also be grateful if you could refer me to a capable lawyer. I'll be of age soon and need to take over the business of a Noble and Most Ancient House. I feel certain you can understand the problem."

"Yes, of course, Harry, I'm always glad to help my students," Professor Slughorn beamed. Then he focusedon Mr. Worple, "Eldred, I'm pleased I could connect you to Harry, here. I've heard Litzka over there didn't have bestsellers for a few years," Slughorn pointed at a rather fat woman standing in the right corner of the tent like room. "She'd be overjoyed for such a safe bet."

"Thank you Horace," the small author said. "As always your parties are the social events to get business done."

"You flatter me, Eldred," Harry's potions professor said, making light of his help.

Harry didn't think Slughorn was really that modest, no he was positively glowing with pride. Going somewhere else in the room, the pudgy man waved him to follow.

"Um, sorry Luna, that we do this boring stuff," Harry said to his date. "But I really need to get this done. Slughorn likes to invite everyone that has any power in society."

"It's great, Harry," Luna said, placating Harry's worries, "I can listen to people when they don't have privacy spells up. This will make so many great stories for the Quibbler."

"I can only imagine," Harry said as they hurried after Slughorn. "What will be the next codename? Desup conspiracy?"

"No, that's too obvious. Maybe Troer-conspiracy as opposed to Rotfang..."

Suddenly, Professor Trelawney stepped into Slughorn's way. "Ah, you have brought Harry Potter with you," the scraggy witch said as if Harry had only come for her. "Of course, I knew his fate beforehand, didn't I prophesy your troubles in third year? Didn't I predict dark times?"

She had done so indeed, yet she couldn't remember the true prophecy she'd actually made. Harry wasn't sure if she was just posturing or if she was referring to her permanent prophecies of doom. If one babbled as much bullshit as she did there had to come something true in the end.

Harry only nodded, hoping she'd find another victim. He really couldn't stand the batty teacher. Learning arithmancy or ancient runes would have been better spent time than doing creative writing for that nutter.

"See you even acknowledge the importance of Divinations," Trelawney replied, "so why didn't you return to its studies this year? Knowing the future is of utmost importance for the chosen one."

To Harry's relief Slughorn interfered: "Sybill, Sybill, we all believe our subject the most important, or we surely wouldn't have mastered it, wouldn't we? I mean, Harry here is a true prodigy at potions - right Severus," the socialite teacher remarked, pulling Harry's most hated teacher out of the party flow. "Even with his genius," Slughorn hiccuped, he'd drunk a bit too much, "he should prioritize."

"A genius at potions," Snape raised his eyebrows in a totally unbelieving mien. "I'm sure Mr. Potter is proud of _his_ performance."

Fuck... of course Snape would know, Harry thought. At least he didn't call him out on it... but he knew.

"The draught of living death, perfect on the first try..." Slughorn prattled on. "I don't think I've ever seen a finer performance."

Looking at Harry as if he were an insect under a potions knife, the current DADA teacher remarked: "I'm certain he hasn't learned it with me."

"Well then it's all natural talent," Slughorn replied unconcerned. "Mr. Potter, what do you plan to do after school?"

"Auror, if I recall correctly," Snape answered for Harry.

"I don't think I ever mentioned it to you, Professor Snape," Harry retorted.

"Colleagues talk," the greasy haired man replied, raising his eyebrows.

"Well, I'm sure you'll make a great one, Harry," Slughorn boomed.

"I don't think you should be an Auror, Harry," said Luna unexpectedly. Everybody looked at her. "The Aurors are part of the Rotfang Conspiracy, I thought everyone knew that. They're planning to bring down the Ministry of Magic from within using a combination of Dark Magic and gum disease."#

Harry laughed out loud and even Snape's lips were twitching. Slughorn looked confused though. The last Potter was glad he hadn't drunk anything yet.

"Gum disease?" Harry asked, still snickering. "She's got a point, though," Harry said for the two confused teachers. "If I was an Auror I'd have to work for the administration regardless whether my political beliefs clash with theirs."

"I can see where _that _could be a problem," Snape snarked.

"I'm glad you aren't blind, Professor," Harry replied coolly, snatching a butterbeer bottle from a house elve's tray.

Just then Filch interrupted the confrontation. The annoying squib housekeeper was dragging Malfoy behind, apparently having caught him lurking around somewhere. Now he wanted Malfoy punished, but Slughorn wouldn't let him. While Harry thought the Slytherin ponce deserved some punishment, it also allowed him to ask a question he'd wondered about for quite a while.

"Um... Malfoy," Harry began, "your grandfather was Abraxas Malfoy, right?"

"Yess, Potter, what about it?" Harry's school rival hissed.

"Well, he wrote this rather interesting book on wizarding society and it made me wonder why your father is a Death Eater."

"It's because the mudbloods destroy our society, Potter," the Slytherin sneered.

"Draco, please," Slughorn interjected, not happy with the boy's behaviour. He was most likely wondering if it was a smart idea to allow Draco to attend, Harry thought smugly. The Slytherin was about as subtle as a bombarda curse.

"I got the impression it was more that the Wizengamot crippled itself between the ultra conservatives and the rest," Harry replied. "I guess Revolution makes sense, but not from the faction supporting Voldemort... I mean stuff was going your way anyway, so why start terrorist attacks?"

"To get rid of the filth, isn't it obvious?"

Snape glared at Draco, the evil teacher obviously didn't like his pupil's conduct, Harry realized.

"And the patriarch of the filthy rich Malfoy family goes out killing, robbing and doing minion's work personally," Harry mocked. "Isn't that below your status? Doing Voldemort's dirty work?"

"Fuck you, Potter," Malfoy replied, turning around to leave.

"Actually, I'm serious," Harry said, holding the Malfoy scion back, "I'd expected everything but to see your father in the ministry. What's the reason that the once upon a time most powerful family of the british isles are the vassals to a terrorist?"

"It should be obvious, Potter," Malfoy sneered. "If you'd actually listened in history, you'd know that those on top always fall first." Seemingly as an afterthought the Slytherin ponce added: "And in the last war it seemed obvious that the Dark Lord was going to win."

With those words Draco Malfoy turned around and left. Harry didn't feel the need to hold him back. The last sentence didn't seem all like a consummate Death Eater, more like someone who'd put his money on the wrong horse. Well, not that there was to be anything done about it right now, Malfoy was obviously involved too deep.

Harumphing, Slughorn said: "Alright, Harry, I guess..."

"Mate that was awesome," Ron shouted, interrupting whatever the potions teacher had planned to say. "I've never seen Malfoy looking that stupid before."

"Yeah, if he wasn't such a bigot and asshole, I might actually feel sorry for him," Hermione stated, joining the group. Meanwhile, both Malfoy and Snape had disappeared in the distraction his friends had created.

'Another missed opportunity to learn more what the ponce planned,' Harry thought sadly, but he couldn't change his life to foil the plans of one Slytherin, he had other things to consider.

"Yes, maybe," Harry nodded at his friends and focused his attention on Slughorn who was slipping away. "Professor, you wanted to introduce me to a lawyer..."

"Ah, yes, Harry," said the teacher, "I thought you were busy with your friends."

"Not that busy," Harry replied, quickly shaking his head at his friends. "I fear business has to come before pleasure." He bent over to his two best friends: "It's only the one conversation, then I've done what I wanted here."

"Alright, mate," Ron nodded. Hermione only smiled encouragingly as Slughorn pulled Harry with him.

Avoiding one of the cloths that were hanging from the ceiling, as he squeezed his way between a house elf and an older warty witch, Harry suddenly found himself in another conversation.

"Mr. Serpens, I love to introduce my student, Harry Potter, here. He mentioned he's looking for an excellent lawyer like you," Slughorn said, patting Harry on the back.

"Thank you, Mr. Slughorn," the lawyer said, waving Harry's teacher away and putting forth his hand. "Mr. Potter, I'm Chimerus Serpens of Dewey, Cheatem, and Howe. _How _may I help you?"

'Interesting name,' Harry thought. Hopefully the name of the agency didn't relate to him but his adversaries.

Harry shook the stretched out hand. "Well, as you might now I had some attacks on my person last year..." Mr. Serpens nodded, and Harry continued: "I want to make sure that something like this won't happen again unpunished. I'd also like to haul the people responsible over the coals if it is still possible. The other thing is that I've apparently inherited the house of Black."

"The house of Black? Are you sure? The young Malfoy scion should be the closest in line for inheriting the house."

"He would be if Sirius hadn't been my godfather," Harry said, nodding, "but Sirius made sure that the house of Black didn't fall to Deatheaters."

Mr. Serpens rubbed his forehead. "Yes, that complicates things of course, but how could Mr. Black designate an heir if he was sentenced to Azkaban?"

Harry grimaced. "He wasn't sentenced at all. They just chucked him in there and even after he escaped they just put out a kiss on sight order."

"The family magic wouldn't regard him as guilty, you're right. Yet if I remember correctly, the Black family demanded of an heir that he was at least partly of Black blood."

"I know," Harry nodded. "That shouldn't be a problem though as Sirius and I were second or third cousins and the male line died with him."

"It'll be difficult to restore the political and financial capital of the Black family," the lawyer stated seriously. "The accounts were untended for 14 years since the old Walburga died after all."

"If it was easy, I wouldn't need help," Harry said, unable to restrain himself.

Mr. Serpens only chuckled though. "Difficult for someone like me, utterly impossible for you I fear."

"Yeah, that's why I need help. It would be a shame to let those resources deteriorate further. I'm just sick of people using me for their political gain without me having a say in it."

"I can empathize," the man said, quickly snatching a drink from an house elf's tray. "Say, you mentioned Mr. Black was just chucked into Azkaban without a trial... He was your godfather, that means he was most likely innocent of involvement with your parents murder. Why didn't he come to us. We even got your grandfather off the hook after his involvement with Grindelwald."

Great, Harry inwardly sighed. Apparently the dark parts of his family history were common knowledge in the upper parts of wizarding society.

"I'm not sure," Harry had to admit, "Dumbledore said..." Yes, Dumbledore said. Sirius was dead because Dumbledore kept quiet about the prophecy, because Dumbledore thought it was better Harry didn't know some things. What kept him from lying to Sirius? It wasn't like his late Godfather had that much experience with the world out of prison.

"It probably was more convenient for Dumbledore not to be faced with a Black trial," the Lawyer stated cooly. "It would have made him look rather bad, considering his involvement with Black's time in Azkaban."

"You mean..."

"Dumbledore was chief Warlock. He certainly could have done something to ensure Black getting a trial." The lawyer said as he conjured two chairs. "Take a seat please, I'm not used to standing this long anymore."

Harry gratefully slumped down into the chair. This was just too much. If he'd known this, he'd still have his godfather. He'd still have his last family... Harry felt like crying and all of this just because it was politically inconvenient for Dumbledore. Merlin, he'd stopped trusting the old man last summer, but he'd never guessed it was this bad.

"Great, I can't trust Dumbledore," Harry voiced his thoughts with a sigh. "What am I supposed to do now?"

It was only a rhetorical question, but Mr. Serpens answered anyway. "I'd suggest you continue with what you've planned anyway, returning the House of Black to its former glory and wreaking revenge on your enemies..." The lawyer took a short breath. "About the latter, did your enemies do more to you than the smear campaign?"

Harry snorted. "Well, someone in the ministry set Dementors on me then they tried to kick me out of Hogwarts for defending myself against them. Afterwards, they still continued their smear campaign and sicced Umbridge on me in Hogwarts to get me to admit that I 'lied' about Voldemort. She used detentions to torture me with a blood quill. Later that year she even tried to Crucio me."

"Merlin's crapped underpants!" Mr. Serpens exclaimed shocked. He'd seemed rather cool, yet the last thing shocked even him. "She crucioed you?"

Harry shook his head. "No, but she certainly wanted to. She threatened me with it and demanded that Hermione and I show her the 'secret weapon' of the Order of the Phoenix. Not that something like that actually exists as far as I know. Thinking about it, she also wanted to use Veritaserum on me. I don't think that's legal."

"No it isn't. Merlin, I'm not surprised anymore that they can't do shit against Voldemort," said Mr. Serpens. "If they consider this as lawful conduct. You were... are a national hero and they still pulled this."

"Yeah, I couldn't believe it either, but considering what happened during the tournament and the second year..." Harry mumbled and the lawyer raised his eyebrows, motioning him to continue. "Well, the stupid bullying campaigns when suddenly half the school turned on me because I was the 'heir of Slytherin' or the cheater champion. Is this usual for the wizarding world? One day hero, the next villain?"

"I don't think so, Mr. Potter. This school has an... interesting dynamic, I believe," Mr. Serpens shrugged. "While the school bullying is rather ugly, its probably not your most pressing problem right now. First thing to do is securing the Black Family fortune, but then you should make sure that the Prophet will never again dare to smear your name and make sure this Umbridge is taken out."

"Yeah, that would be a good idea... As long as that woman is free and employee of the ministry I'm not sure who's the bigger threat to my livelihood, she or Voldemort."

The lawyer raised his eyebrows."And the rest?"

"I agree with your plan, right now Umbridge is too low in the hierarchy to do real damage..." Harry said. "I guess I'm a bit fixated on that bitch... Anyway, how do we do this?"

"Well, I know your problems now, so our firm can draft you a proposition. Once it is ready, we'll send it to you with house elf post," Mr. Serpens said. "I would like to do business with you."

"Likewise," Harry replied and bid farewell.

Turning around, Harry realized he'd lost Luna somewhere in the process. She certainly wasn't hanging around anymore. Actually, Harry found himself rather alone between a bunch of adults. Taking a last sip from his butterbeer bottle, Harry left it on the tray one of the house elfs carried around. The party was getting even more crowded and the few people that talked to him wanted to either mooch off his fame or just talk to the boy-who-lived. After politely declining the first few, Harry went over to ignore the rest. He had a date to find.

In the end he caught her with Trelawney, listening only half heartedly to the batty woman, while trying to get as much from the surrounding conversations as she could.

"Hi, Luna," Harry said, poking his date in the side.

"Eeeeek," the blonde girl exclaimed.

"Did you miss me?"

"Oh, Mr. Potter, we were just talking about your dark fate," Trelawny's voice wavered into Harry's ears.

"Yes... my dark fate..." Harry groaned. "I'm sure I'll die sometime."

"No... no... that's not it. The cards warned... you're going to be absorbed by something... greater... darker... and you will lose your humanity," Trelawney said, playing mysterious.

Harry shrugged. It wasn't like she was doing a real prophecy again. She was just making herself important. Considering her talks to Dumbledore, she really felt threatened by the centaur. Maybe she was, but then Harry couldn't understand why they taught Divination at Hogwarts. It was just a waste of time. If he'd known it was so useless beforehand he'd have studied something else for his O.W.L.S., Harry was sure.

He really had to suppress the need for a rude reply. "Yes, Professor, I will beware... If you apologize me." Harry turned towards his date and whispered: "Luna? Do you want to come with me?"

Luna nodded and pulled him behind another group just as Trelawney picked up a new sherry glass from a house elf's tray.

"Alcohol..." Luna shook her head, smiling sadly. "She's from a famous seer family, teaches divination at a school and still is a hopeless alcoholic. I think the only one surpassing her Wrackspurt infestation is Fudge."

"Um... what do you mean?" Harry was confused.

"Alcohol impedes a seers talent. Makes their predictions truly random... She doesn't know herself whether she is babbling nonsense or actually making a valid divination."

"Well, she made two real prophecies," Harry had to admit. "She doesn't remember though."

"That's interesting, but not what I meant," Luna said, shaking her head again. "Divination is more like guessing the future with the aid of magic. It's actually a magical talent like Parseltongue..." She continued to whisper: "and it has sometimes appeared in my family line."

Well that might explain her weird yet strangely accurate comments," Harry thought.

"Interesting, I think," Harry said. "So, divination class was any use for you?"

"Uhum..." Luna nodded. "But look, they're playing music over there, let's dance."

Harry's only experience with dancing was the dreadful Christmas ball in fourth year, yet dancing with Luna turned out to be a pleasant if a bit peculiar experience. Luna actually led. Harry knew the guy was supposed to lead, but Luna didn't care. Well, it was all for the better, the last Potter thought. He certainly couldn't dance. The result looked better than what his two best friends did, Ron and Hermione were only stumbling around, but they too enjoyed the party.

Another high point of the evening was when a drunk Slughorn tried himself at dancing. If asked to describe it, Harry would have lacked the words. Half the room was holding their mouths, trying not to laugh at the socialite teacher's dancing attempts, while the other half was too drunk to realize what was going on.

"Luna," Ginny said, interrupting Harry's mirth at his teacher's antics. "May I borrow your partner."

Harry's heart was beating faster. Ginny wanted to dance with him?

"Sure, why not?" Luna nodded, smiling at her childhood friend. "What about Dean, though?"

Dean... Dean. Why did there have to be Dean, Harry thought. If it wasn't for the boy, Ginny would be his.

"I'm confident he'll be willing to entertain you for a few dances," Ginny said, giving Luna a quick hug. "Thank you."

Luna shook her head and smiled. "No need to thank me, I'll enjoy inviting Dafunpins with your boyfriend."

Luna and her creatures. It looked like she was getting sloppy though, Harry realized. Nobody could tell what Nargles were, but Dafunpins obviously were dance fun creatures. Or maybe he just got used to Luna's code names.

"Harry?" Ginny said. "Are you sleeping?"

"Um... no, I was just thinking."

Ginny took his hand. "Alright, let's dance. Too much thinking invites Wrackspurts, you know?"

Harry nodded. Apparently Luna's creations were spreading in Gryffindor tower. Dancing with Ginny gave Harry a problem though. For all her antics, Luna could dance, she knew what to do. Harry certainly didn't, though, which made the dance with Ginny rather awkward. He didn't know how to lead and Ginny didn't seem to know either. Still, he knew to appreciate the time. Even if they weren't the best dancers, it gave him some time alone with Ginny.

"Um... how do you like this year's quidditch season?" Harry asked, as they stumbled around.

Crap, he thought. Now that he had Ginny alone, he didn't know what to say to her. Wasn't there some kind of instructions manual for girls?

"Good, I think," Ginny replied, quickly avoiding a badly set foot. "Now that Ron got over his small-dick we actually have a chance at winning. I only hope..."

"Small dick?" Harry echoed as they swerved out of a drunken couples way. "What do you mean?"

"Well, he has," Ginny shrugged. "I'm just sick of his woe is me attitude. Why can't he just play?"

That was the big question, Harry thought to himself. It wasn't self pity but total lack of confidence though. How could Ginny not see that, Harry couldn't understand, she was Ron's sister after all. Seriously, when had she seen Ron's dick the last time anyway? Harry didn't exactly check dick sizes under the shower, yet he knew Ron's tool wasn't very small...

"I don't know, he doesn't believe in himself... " Harry said, he really didn't want to talk about this. "So... um... how is school this year?"

"Good," Ginny said, shrugging again. "Anyway, I think we can get the cup this year."

"Yeah we should, I only hope Katie will be back soon. Whatever fucktard imperiused her really fucked up her school year."

'Ouch!' Harry thought, barely able to suppress a yell. Ginny had stepped on his toes. Thankfully, it was the tip and not the heel, but it still hurt.

"Yeah," Ginny agreed to Harry's previous statement. "I hope they'll find whoever was responsible, but considering the _Imperius _is almost impossible to trace, I'm not very hopeful."

"Not that impossible, well if you have some suspicions," Harry corrected. It was somewhat a pet peeve of his. "Nonetheless, the ministry would rather surrender to Voldemort than to allow the aurors to use veritaserum on any suspects. I mean imagine what would happen if the honorable Nott was to be put under it? Oh what questions a clumsy inspector could find answers to..."

"Yes, you're probably right," Ginny admitted, making a waving movement. "How do you think Dean was in the last match?"

Harry was somewhat thankful afterwards. He only had three dances with Ginny. Neither of them could really dance, well Ginny apparently could, Harry had to admit. That was if she had someone capable lead, but so could Harry as he'd seen with Luna. Talking with the Weasley girl wasn't much better either. He tried to talk to her about several topics, but she was even worse than Ron. Quidditch, Quidditch, Dean and Quidditch.

He wasn't sure what was worse. The fact that the only thing she was willing to talk about aside of Quidditch was Dean or that she apparently only cared for Quidditch. Yet, Harry realized, he might not be fair. Ginny really seemed to be focusedon the dance. He wouldn't have been able to do sophisticated conversation either if his heart had been in it. He'd rather talk than stumble around. Done right it was fun, Harry knew, yet this was just torture to his toes.

Hermione rescued Harry as Ron took over his sister. While Ginny didn't look too happy to be stuck with her brother, Harry was glad to dance with his best friend. With Hermione he could talk, the girl knew how to deal with clumsy boys and right now she wasn't stuck on a crusade, so they actually had fun. And he could tease the bushy haired witch about her relationship... or so he thought.

"If you care so much about kissing Ron, why don't you try yourself," Hermione suggested. "He's your best mate, I'm sure he'll forgive you."

"He's a boy!"

"Well, if you mind the gender so much, you could just use the _sexus transformatio,_" Hermione grinned.

"You want Ron, your boyfriend, as a girl!" Harry exclaimed. He couldn't imagine his best mate that way.

"No, I don't," Hermione snickered. "I figured you might make a good female friend. How about a menage a trois with Ron..."

"You are not serious."

"Do I look like I am a guy?" the bushy haired prefect smirked. "No, I don't think I like girls that way."

Harry hid his face in his hands. "Can we _please_ change the topic. I really don't want to think about sex-change curses right now."

He wasn't led off that easily. "The _sexus transformatio _is even reversible, but we need to save a pint of your blood beforehand," Hermione lectured while an evil grin played over her face. "Sadly your father is no longer among the living so we can't use his as a backup... Are you sure you don't want to try. I'm positive you'll make a stunning girl."

"It's a good idea. Just remember not to use the _cinsi dəyişiklik _curse," Luna's airy voice reminded them from behind. "I rather like Harry as a boy... I don't think being a submissive Harem girl would suit him."

Harry raised his hands in surrender. "I don't even want to know about it."

"You look rather green," Luna stated. "Did the Bafods bite you? I think trying another gender might be interesting. We should ask Professor McGonagall..."

"Mate, I heard you want to kiss me?!" Ron interrupted whatever Luna planned to say as he suddenly appeared in front of Harry. "Did you drink something wrong? Some prank love potion of Fred and George's?"

"I give up! I surrender! Just spare me, please," Harry pleaded to his friends.

{The Overmind's origin species mating habits are rather fascinating,} Adalbert the overlord mused.

Harry decided to ignore his favourite Zerg. It seemed to him as if the rather stoic being had developed a sense of humor over the last month.

"Eh, what happened?" Ron asked confused. "Did I miss something?"

Luna nodded, while Hermione's attempt to answer dissolved in laughter. Harry just wanted to sink into the ground and disappear. The only good thing was that Ginny wasn't around. He really didn't want to explain this to his romantic interest.

"We were talking about transforming Harry into a girl," Luna explained airily. "Do you think he'd make a good girlfriend for you?"

As he saw his best friend's pain, Ron decided to spare Harry further embarrassment. "I'd be honored," Ron said, grinning awkwardly, "but I think I'll stick to Hermione."

"Thanks, mate," Harry sighed with relief. "You know your girlfriend has an evil sense of humor?"

Ron only nodded sagely.

"May I have my date back?" Luna asked Ron. "You can still try kissing him in the dark of the Gryffindor boys' dorm."

Hermione had almost calmed down, but Luna's comment made her break in laughter again. He'd never try to tease her again if this was the result, Harry thought. The girls had apparently developed razor tongues.

It was Ron's turn to hide his head within his hands now. "You can have him," Ron said, pushing Harry towards Luna. "Whatever you read in your free time, I don't want to know. I don't even want to know whether it exists."

Harry thanked Merlin and all gods that the discussion didn't dissolve further afterwards. Ginny had disappeared with Dean, but the four friends stayed on the dancing floor until late after twelve. Hermione and Luna actually managed to convince Harry to dance with Ron. Afterwards, Harry always excused it with the alcohol in his blood, yet it had been somewhat fun.

When they returned to the Gryffindor tower, curfew had passed long ago, but with Slughorn's invitation that wasn't a problem. And really who could have said anything? Ron and Hermione were prefects, after all. They separated in front of the staircase to the girls dormitory.

"Thank you for the invitation, Harry," Luna said, embracing her date. "This night was great."

"Yeah..." Harry agreed sharply nodding. "I also ennjjoyeded danszing wuth you."

Maybe it was the alcohol, but seeing his two best friends kiss Harry suddenly wanted to join. Well, not them, but Luna couldn't go to bed without a goodnight kiss. Letting himself fall into her hug, Harry clumsily targeted her lips with his. As her lips came closer Harry's heart began to beat faster, it almost felt like a drum solo. It was confusing, but Luna looked so cute, Harry just couldn't resist.

The Santa hat was sitting cross on her hand, while she too leaned in on him. There was no more reluctance for Harry. Pressing his lips on hers he felt a tingle shooting through his body. It was good.

"Thank you, Harry," Luna said after they'd let go of each other. "This was the best first kiss ever."

Ron discreetly gave Harry a thumbs up from behind Hermione's back. She too smiled at him.

Harry yawned. "I'm glaad you entschoyed it... we should kiss agggain. But I think... we need to goo to bed," Harry said, staggering a bit.

"I think you're right," Hermione said, raising her eyebrows. "You definitely need to go to bed."

"Good night, Harry," Luna said as she hugged him another time. "See you tomorrow."

XXXHPASXXX

_There have been a few original quotes from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. See if you can find them ;)_

**AN: ****Well this was the longest chapter of this story so far. I really couldn't leave the opportunities of that Christmas party unused. This was one of the parts that bothered me most when I reread HP6.**

**I think it is quite obvious now which pairing I chose, but for those who still want to know it, it's Harry x Luna.**

**I'm aware I deviated a bit too much from the Zerg part of the story, but there is so much HP potential that stays unused. Whatever… I hope you enjoyed reading this story and as usual I'm grateful to read you feedback. I'm sorry if I don't have time to answer, since I'm quite busy with my internship, a paper for university and continuing to write a few stories.**


	13. Chapter 14

**Chapter Published: **02.03.2013

* * *

_Disclaimer:__ Elements of this story are copyrighted by other parties. My wallet complains, but I own neither StarCraft nor the Harry Potter franchise__. _

_If you thought I did, I'd love to know where you got that idea. Everything not owned by J. K. Rowling and Blizzard Entertainment (or whatever their name is right now) is owned by me._

_Thanks to Richard for betaing this story._

XXXHPASXXX

The next morning Harry's head throbbed as he woke up. He shouldn't have drunk that much firewhiskey, Harry thought. Yet it was kind of tasty and made him feel better, more courageous in his dances with Luna... Luna... he'd kissed her last night... and it was good. He'd liked Luna... but that way? She certainly was cute, nice, helpful and funny. Just like Ginny. Only Ginny had been boring last night and already had a boyfriend. Luna didn't have one...

What to do, Harry wondered as he crawled out of his bed to dress. The others in the dorm had already disappeared to breakfast. He'd really drunk too much. Holding his head with one hand, Harry tried dressing with the other. It didn't really work. Groaning he slumped back down on his bed.

{The Overmind should avoid toxic substances until you have been upgraded with swarm DNA,} the hivemind voiced its opinion. {At this point losing the Overmind's psionic presence would prove fatal for the swarm.}

{Alcohol isn't lethal in that quantity,} Harry mentally replied annoyed. {I'd need to drink way more. And even then I still have my magic. I don't think a wizard ever died from alcohol poisoning.}

{You are the Overmind, you're responsible for the swarm.}

"Great," Harry sighed. Now he had a nagging wife for a conscience or something.

He decided to ignore the hivemind for now. It wasn't like his hangover was really dangerous, so he had bigger problems to deal with. Namely what to do with Luna. Standing up again, Harry knew he had to decide. Try wooing Ginny, who already had a boyfriend and didn't talk about anything but Quidditch. Or on the other hand Luna, who was funny, inventive and actually understood what was going on in the wizarding world. She might actually know more than the Malfoy ponce considering her father's profession.

But love should not be a political commodity... Making Luna his girlfriend because she was useful would be demeaning to her. He wouldn't do that to his friend and on top of it he didn't know if she actually was serious. Was that just drunken instinct or was she serious? A sad look played over Harry's face upon this. Sirius would have known what advice to give him, but that was not to be... Although... Sirius would have probably told him to try getting both as his girlfriends. And a few fangirls to make it a harem or something. Harry smiled at the thought.

Even in death his godfather still managed to bring a little sunshine into his life. Well, there was no reason for him to mope around. He liked Luna very much, she was cute, but maybe Ginny had bigger boobs... 'Bad Harry,' the last Potter scolded himself. Really, choosing a girlfriend by her assets? What would that make him? A horndog? A boobie-digger?

All his pondering was pointless before he actually met with Luna. It really hinged on her reaction. He really hoped she wouldn't go all righteous and slighted on him, but that was rather unlikely, Harry had to admit to himself. Ginny might... no probably would have done something like that, yet Luna... No, Luna wouldn't. She's probably invent Alcohospurts infesting him or something.

Stopping to tear his hair, Harry left the dormitory. As he looked around in the common room, he didn't find his maybe girlfriend. Luna was nowhere to be seen and neither were Ron, Hermione and Neville. Only Ginny was happily flirting with Dean in a corner. Harry looked away and hurried down to breakfast. He might be late but he certainly didn't want to spend his morning hungry.

The great hall was filled to the brim as was common on late Saturday mornings. Some students were eating, but the rest was talking with their housemates. Like Harry's four friends were. They had taken their usual spot at the Gryffindor table and did whatever.

"Hi everyone," Harry said, coming to the table. He smiled at Luna, she looked cute with her tousled hair.

"Hello Harry," Luna replied, smiling back at him.

Then she suddenly jumped up and hugged Harry, surprising the last Potter. "You wanted to do this again right?" She said as her lips found their way on his. Butterflies were dancing in Harry's stomach as their mouth met. Luna even opened her mouth, sending scary pleasurable shivers down Harry's spine.

"Wow," he said after they'd let go of each other. "This was great, definitely wanna do it again."

Who cared about Ginny? Harry thought, grinning to himself. Luna could kiss... Meanwhile, Ron was clapping and whistling under Hermione's disapproving glare.

"What?" Ron shrugged, looking at his girlfriend. "It's about time they got to together."

Harry only raised his eyebrows. He certainly didn't know he liked Luna that way until yesterday night. So how did Ron know?

"Alright," Luna decided, grabbing Harry again to kiss him.

"Guys... Guys..." Neville said while they kissed, "do you really want to make a show for the entire great hall?"

"I don't care," Luna decided. "Kissing is fun and it's not like we can really influence what they're thinking anyway."

Neville looked away blushing. Harry wasn't sure what was going on with his friend but normally the Longbottom scion wasn't like that. Well maybe he was, he'd been quite shy after all. Harry couldn't worry about it right now though, he had something to say to Luna.

"Um... do you want to be my girlfriend?"

'Best line ever... not,' Harry mentally criticised himself. He stopped pretty quickly after Luna started beaming at him.

"Of course! I'd love to," she said, embracing Harry in a quick hug. "But do you know what boyfriend and girlfriends do," she whispered into his ear. "Having friends is kinda new for me so I don't know..."

Harry shrugged. He wasn't exactly an expert on relationships either. "I think holding hands and kissy stuff," he whispered back. "Maybe we should watch what Ron and Hermione do. Well and hugging and..."

"And doing it like little Snorkacks in heat?" Luna smirked, sneaking in a quick kiss on Harry. "Oh look, your cheeks are red." She put her hand on his forehead while grinning at him. "Well, you don't have a fever."

Harry quickly shook his head. He didn't have a fever, yet a certain part of his anatomy was rising feverishly. Meanwhile Ron was laughing at him. Even Hermione was holding her mouth. Only Neville shot him a strange look.

"Hey!" Harry protested, glaring at his best mate. "Go and bother your own girlfriend."

"Alright," Ron said grinning and blew him a raspberry. "Hermione you won't mind right?"

The bushy haired girl released a tortured sigh. "No, I won't. Just, please, don't get into a snogging contest or something, okay?" She then proceeded to ignore her own words by giving Ron a long snog.

"Hey, Harry, look here," Luna said, lightly poking her boyfriend into the side. "I want a kiss of my own."

Meanwhile Neville just groaned.

"Oh, who do we have here?" A scathing female voice said from behind, instantly killing the mood. And Harry had just sat down. "Loony and her creatures."

It was Cho Chang and her bullying friends. Harry couldn't believe he'd once crushed on the bitch. The fact that Marietta Edgecombe was wearing heavy makeup all over her face, made Harry wonder what kind of curse Hermione had used in her contract if they still hadn't managed to dispell it. She had to be hiding the 'sneak' written with zits. It just made her look clownish. Meanwhile Cho was being her usual beautiful and arrogant self. Her doll like face was contorted in a sneer that would not have looked wrong on Snape's face. The third of the bully trio was a rather inconspicuous, almost mousy-looking girl. Harry knew that she was in Ravenclaw but he'd never really talked to the Desford girl. Nanette was her name or something.

"Oh, who do we have here?" Hermione echoed mockingly. She'd gathered her wits first. "The sneak, the alien and the wallflower. What do you want? Did even your housemates get sick of you?"

"No...," Marietta-sneak said, her voice dripping with venom. "We came here to make sure Loony was alright before returning home for Christmas. Who knows what might happen over the holidays... we might never see her again..."

When she began Harry felt like laughing. It almost looked as if she'd taken lessons in ponce by Malfoy. It stopped being funny when she started making serious threats. Most likely she was only bluffing but that didn't change the fact she'd openly given death threats.

Harry didn't know when it had happened but suddenly he was holding a wand in his hand. A wand directly pointed at Marietta. "You don't want to go there," he hissed. They threatened his swarm, they wouldn't get away with it. He raised his wand, ready to hex the threat away.

"Mr. Potter stop this right now," Professor McGonagall shouted, as she arrived huffing at their table. "Edgecombe, Chang, Desford! 50 points from Ravenclaw and two months detention with Snape!"

"But!" Cho Chang protested.

"No buts Miss Chang." The deputy headmistress snarled. "The only reason you and your clique are still at this school is because we couldn't prove anything but you shouldn't believe your bullying ways will be accepted anymore. Now go back to your table." The three girls seemed to sink into the ground under McGonagall's glare.

When the girls snuck away with their tails between their legs it was Harry's turn to wither under his head of houses eyes. "Mr. Potter," she said sharply, but then she sighed. "I can understand that you're angry about their threat to your girlfriend, congratulations by the way, but I can't allow you to hex them. Good for you that you didn't do anything." She sent Harry a quick smile.

Now Hermione found herself under her glare. "Miss Granger, your wandless casting is as excellent as I suspected, but I hope for you that whatever you did wasn't really dangerous."

While Harry hadn't seen her do anything, he was glad the assholes didn't get away unscathed. He'd have to ask Hermione later what she actually did. Maybe subtlety really had its advantages even if it was supposed to be a Slytherin virtue.

Hermione quickly shook her head. "No professor," she said as an evil smirk crept on her face. "Not dangerous in that sense."

"I don't want to know," Professor McGonagall groaned. "Nevermind. As long as they don't die from it and you didn't cripple them I won't care." She threw a glance at Luna. "Are you alright, Miss Lovegood?"

The blonde girl looked distraught and Harry took her hand, trying to calm her down a bit.

"I... I'm worried," Luna admitted. "My father..."

"I'm quite certain that Miss Edgecombe only planned to ruin your Christmas," Professor McGonagall stated. "If she really knew of an attack on you she'd either tell it to you secretly because she didn't really want you dead or gleefully awaited the news of your demise in silence." The teacher shot a nasty glare towards the Ravenclaw table.

"O..okay, I guess," Luna said, sniffing.

"Don't worry," McGonagall said, bowing down to pull the slightly hysteric girl into a hug. "They're bullies. They boast about it but I'm confident Severus will teach them to keep their evil gobs shut." A smirk shot over her face, only to be followed by a sigh. "Alas Severus will certainly use this opportunity to remind me of one of my biggest failures."

She was probably talking about his father's gang, Harry thought grimly. If that idiot hadn't been such an ass to Snape Harry wouldn't have half his problems with the teacher.

"Thank you Professor," Luna said, wiping a tear from her eyes as McGonagall released her hug.

"It's alright, I'm glad when I can help my Lions," the head of house said, turning away from the group. "I'll see you all later in my office for the floo connection. Please try to stay out of trouble until then."

"We'll try," Harry laughed, although he wasn't sure about McGonagall's real willingness to help. She'd tolerated Umbridge's Blood Quills after all. If it came down between her job and her pupils, Harry feared she'd choose her job.

"Um... can I eat now?" Harry asked nobody specific, garnering laughter from his friends as he sat down on the bench. "Please forgive me if I lack manners, but I'm hungry."

"As long as you don't eat like Ron," Ginny, who'd obviously listened, said from five place away.

"Hey!" Ron protested.

While Hermione shook her head, she defended her boyfriend. "He's really not that bad."

"Anymore," Ginny retorted before she returned to her conversation with Dean.

Ron only groaned, obviously not happy with his sister.

"Um Ron?" Harry said to his best mate after gulping down the first bite of his scrambled egg. "Do you know, how I can..." Harry began, before he realized everyone could listen in. "**Muffliato**! Um do you have an idea how I could spread my zerg without anyone realizing anything?"

"You're worried about the ward-lines right?" Ron inquired. "Or maybe the centaurs?"

"Yes, it's the wards," Harry said. "I've got about a thousand zergs in my swarm now and..."

"A thousand!" Neville exclaimed, quickly looking around in case anyone had heard but apparently the muffliato was still working.

Even Luna raised her eyebrows. "Really?"

Harry shrugged. "They didn't die and reproduced, so I got more of them. I get nine new larvae every three hours now."

"That's impressive," Hermione admitted. "That should already be enough to take out the deatheaters. Even with the new recruits they can't be over a hundred."

Ron shook his head. "While the numbers are impressive that's not the problem. Magic always has the capability to destroy numbers. The real question is how to use them. It's not like we know where V...Voldemort lives."

"And now your problem is to feed them, right?" Neville asked, rubbing his forehead.

That was not the problem, not really. More like where to store them all... No, the problem was the fact that Harry needed more resources and more energy if he wanted to do more research. The evolution chambers needed serious support to run after all. He wasn't able to build reserves for energy and biomass.

And his camouflage had turned out to be mostly useless. How could he forget that snow actually reflected the sunlight? That had been his problem in the first place. White creep couldn't do photosynthesis. Sure, he could use this adaption to hide the creep where the borders got dangerously close to patrol routes of other creatures, but it wouldn't help much for his energy generation.

There was also the question of the effectiveness anyway. Harry hadn't seen it with his own eyes but his Zerg had no problem determining the difference between snow and creep. The same was true for the acromantula. They fed on the white creep the same way they'd fed on the purple one.

"No, it's more the energy for developments and I want to prepare space for future operations," Harry explained.

"Wait," Hermione said, raising her hand. "Ron's comment made me think. The Zerg are so far out of the box that You...Voldemort will never expect them, but can you somehow make one that can for example bug Snape or maybe Malfoy to follow them home to their base?"

"You mean like a tracking charm on an imperiused cockroach?" Ron asked, raising his eyebrows. "That's been done already, I'm pretty sure they've warded themselves against it."

"It's actually a good idea," Harry said smirking. "The zerg aren't cockroaches and I don't really need tracking spells either."

"You'll also be able to do more than just track them," Luna interjected, cuddling into her boyfriend. "Watching and listening in even on meetings where Snape is under Unbreakable Oath."

"And spy around afterwards..." Ron added. "Maybe make it look like a rock or something, until it releases its legs and eyes and ears..."

Neville had been silent for a while, but he had an idea now. "Or maybe smell them. Changing your looks is easy, changing your smell is way harder. We could always carry one around with us... your creatures... the zerg aren't poisonous, are they?"

"They can be," Harry said absently.

"That reminds me of the cobra incident," Neville shuddered, seeing the questioning stares of his friends he elaborated: "Voldemort used poisonous snakes for a while in the last war to assassinate people, well until everyone caught on and warded their homes against snakes."

"Spiders..." Ron shuddered.

Luna only shook her head. "It doesn't work with arachnids, they're too dumb to understand orders. Imperius doesn't work."

"Whatever," Harry sighed. "That's really interesting, but I need a way to avoid the Hogwarts wards and not run into muggles."

"What about muggles? They can't do anything," Neville shrugged.

"You couldn't do anything either about something that causes potion accidents and deletes your memory once you question where all those potion accidents come from," Hermione snarked. "The muggles have pretty much the same problem with us that we have with the Death Eaters. Well only worse."

Hermione had a point, Harry had to admit. Although the potions accident comment was rather mean. Nobody had ever used a gun against him but he knew that they were very effective at killing muggles. And when things came down to it, muggles weren't that different from wizards.

"I don't want them to run into the zerg because I'd have to alert the ministry then and they'd know about the swarm," Harry explained.

"Just ignore the muggles for now, seriously," Ron groaned. "Your swarm is magical... psionic, right?"

"Yeah... and?"

"Well, can't they just see the wards or something?" Ron continued. "I know Bill uses spells to do that..."

"I'd need to ask," Harry replied and focusedhis mind on his favourite overlord Adalbert: {I hope I don't bother you, but is there a way for you to see psionic energy, or fields of psionic effects?}

{While we may be able to do something like that, it might take some time.} Adalbert stated. {Psionic detection is not the overlord's function.}

{But you can do it, right?} Harry inquired, eager to make progress.

{Although we should be able to do this with our current sensory organs we don't have the instinctive knowledge to do so. We need to learn.}

Harry sent his overlord a mental nod and turned back towards his friends. "It should be possible, but they need to learn how. Ron, did you have an idea what to do about the wards, because I certainly can't break or spoof the Hogwarts' wards."

"You shouldn't need to," Ron said with a shrug. "Sirius got in and out thanks to the secret tunnels, so I'd guess you just need to tunnel under the wards and they won't be a problem."

Hermione nodded absently as she stole a biscuit from her boyfriend's plate. "And muggles normally don't look under the ground either."

"Fine," Harry sighed. "So I need to find a way for my zerg to create tunnels, right?"

Ron and Hermione nodded. Luna and Neville didn't seem opposed to the suggestion either.

{Hivemind,} Harry said to his swarm's subconscious. {Please cue two research problems. First develop something that can tunnel and see psionic effects. Second, well develop a spying zerg. You can pull the specifics from my memory.}

{The hivemind exists to actualize your wishes.}

Harry smiled. {Thank you. If you have problems interpreting my wishes ask Losagog or Adalbert.}

Quickly gulping down a last piece of treacle tart, Harry focused on his friends' conversation.

"...come visit over the Holidays, Hermione," Ron said, smiling at his girlfriend.

"I rarely see my parents," Hermione interjected. "I just wanted to really spend Christmas with them for once."

Harry could only imagine how Hermione felt. Before Sirius he'd never really had a real family, sure the Weasleys were nice enough, but it wasn't the same.

"Why don't you bring them over the Christmas holidays?" Harry suggested, quickly glancing towards his best mate. "Ron, your parents wouldn't mind, right?"

Hermione sighed. "They don't trust the floo..."

"Dad would be excited, which would probably drive mom nuts," Ron said meanwhile, "but no they shouldn't mind."

"So even if they don't like the floo they should be able to come by car," Harry said, raising his eyebrows. "The burrow isn't unplottable, right?"

Ron shook his head. "No, but the muggle repelling charms..."

"Are you serious?" Harry snorted. "Those can be removed or in the worst case we just stun Hermione's parents and levitate them in."

"Hey!" Hermione protested. "No stunning my parents. And we can't, you guys are still under age." She actually had the gall to blow a raspberry at her two best friends.

"Yeah, I think it would be better if you didn't do something like that," Neville snorted. "Apart from all the problems with the ministry I don't think the best way to introduce your boyfriend is by stunning your parents."

"They might think he was infested by Wrackspurts," Luna interjected grinning. She'd somewhat recovered from Sneakietta's stupid threat. "Merlin, they might think all Wizardkind was infected by Wrackspurts."

"I think they might believe that already," Hermione laughed.

Harry shook his head. "We'll just have to show them they're wrong," he said. "Not all of us have Wrackspurt infestations."

{You might want to consider a zerg infestation,} Losagog suddenly interjected into Harry's train of thought. {It makes certain you can't be infested by anything else.}

Harry coughed surprised. {Right... considering our success with your brethren I'm rather reluctant to be the first test subject. I don't want to end braindead.}

{A braindead Overmind wouldn't be helpful to the survival of the swarm,} Losagog agreed. {Anyway, that's not why I called.}

"Do you think Harry's been infected by Wrackspurts," the slightly absent Overmind heard Neville ask. "I mean he's looking through me again."

"No," Luna replied laughing. "More like Zergspurts... Swarmspurts."

Harry only waved at them before he focused on his first zergmantula. {Why did you call then?}

{Our experiments with our psionic abilities proved somewhat successful.} The giant spider joyously explained. {We can replicate psionic... magical effects by imbuing our silk with psionic energy.}

{This sounds like a major success, not just somewhat successful,} Harry said, praising the zergmantula.

{We can only copy existing one's, not make up our own yet,} Losagog shamefully admitted. {The effects are highly complex and we simply don't understand how they work yet.}

Harry shook his head. He didn't expect miracles. If they could actually copy spells it was more than he'd ever hoped for. His ideas had been something like magically steered silk shots. Yet if they could actually replicate his and Hermione's charms the acromantula would be invaluable for his base defense.

{It's okay,} the last Potter sent. {You can experiment and report to me your findings. Just replicate the charms I've used already all over the border of the swarm's base, please.}

{Your wish is my desire.}

"...are you using this privacy spell all the time," Harry heard Ginny's voice say. "And why is Harry staring at nothing like that. It's really annoying to only hear a buzzing whenever one of you says something."

"**Finite incantatem!**" Harry said, waving his hand. This done he sighed. "Alright, it's gone. I was just thinking and forgot about the spell, sorry."

The Weasley girl looked at him wide eyed. "Harry was that a wandless spell?"

"Um yeah," Harry admitted sheepishly. "I've practiced that a bit."

"Wow," was the only thing the stunned Ginny said.

Meanwhile her brother grinned. "Hey Harry, how powerful is your core after all your training?"

"Sixty PE now. Why do you ask?"

"Just curious," Ron said. "What did you start with?"

"Fourty..."

"Impressive," Hermione said, while Luna hugged her boyfriend from the side. "fifty percent growth."

Ron nodded. "Yeah, maybe we should all try this. It could come in pretty handy."

"Anyone care to explain what Pee Eee are?"

XXXHPASXXX

**Authors Note:**** Thank you for reading my story. I hope you liked it so far. Sorry for the delay, but I was a bit busy this morning, I hope you don't mind too much ;)**

**Anyway, I got a few curious reviews about a Stargate Crossover for a while. I'm not that big a fan of Stargate/Harry Potter crossovers myself, but that's probably because most authors have a problem balancing magic with the alien technology of the Stargate universe. In my case I need to finish the main plot of this story before I can really think about a sequel. It would be possible though. One could also try to write a direct crossover between Starcraft and Stargate. **

**The other thing was the Gender Bender idea in the last chapter. It was mostly intended as somekind of joke, I had a bit writers block and just wrote whatever popped into my head ;) I don't plan to derail the story that way, but I've got to admit the idea of Harry as a Queen of Blades is somewhat appealing, even if it doesn't make all that much sense. I mean why would he need boobs? Why does a member of the Swarm actually need a gender anyway? The only real female would be the hatchery…**

**As usual I'd be grateful for your reviews, even if I don't have the time to answer everyone. **


	14. Chapter 15

_Disclaimer:__ Elements of this story are copyrighted by other parties. My wallet complains, but I own neither StarCraft nor the Harry Potter franchise :(. _

_If you thought I did, I'd love to know where you got that idea. Everything not owned by J. K. Rowling and Blizzard Entertainment (or whatever their name is right now) is owned by me._

_Thanks to Richard for betaing this story._

XXXHPASXXX

**Part 15:**

"Ron, Harry, you can go and cut some vegetables," Molly Weasley said to the two boys that had come down the stairs. "You're standing in the way."

"But mom, just spell the knives or something," Ron protested.

"The muggles can do without magic and so can you," Ms. Weasley replied distractedly. "This way at least you'll be good for something."

Ron just glared at her, but Ms. Weasley had turned her back to the to boys already.

"Okay, let's get to it," Harry said, used to way harder work from the Dursleys. "The sooner we begin the sooner we're finished."

"Pha," Ron snorted and repeated Ms. Weasley's words muttering . "This way I'll be good for something. Always the same."

"Always the same?" Harry echoed, peeling a sprout. "What do you mean?"

"Ron do this, Ron do that, that way you'll at least be useful," the youngest Weasley boy said, angrily stabbing a sprout with his knife. "Forget about Quidditch, even Charlie didn't become a professional."

Harry nodded, motioning his best friend to continue as he peeled another sprout. He really wasn't sure what to say about this.

"I'm so sick of this," Ron continued with a sigh. "I'm barely fifteen minutes at home and she's already digging at me again."

They'd really not been long at the Burrow. After their breakfast at Hogwarts Harry and his friends had returned to their dormitories and gathered up whatever they'd planned to take with them over the Christmas holidays. Meeting again in the common room, Harry and Ron had given their three closest friends the presents they'd bought as they wouldn't see them again before Christmas day. Thankfully Harry had somewhat overdone Luna's present when he'd bought it with an owl delivery service, so he didn't need to worry if it was good enough for his girlfriend.

Afterwards, the five friends had gone to McGonnagal's office and flooed to their respective homes. Well, Hermione flooed to the closest wizarding pub. At the Burrow the two boys had just stored their stuff when Molly Weasley had given them this job.

"Maybe," Harry said, suppressing a shrug as his thoughts returned to the present. "Is it really like that normally?"

"It certainly feels like it," Ron affirmed, focussing on checking his sprout again. "If you don't want to learn your arithmancy you can just wash the dishes. This way you'll never get a job in the ministry, but at least you'll be able to work in a pub."

"Really?" Harry said, raising his eyebrows.

Ron only nodded. "Yeah. While she usually tones it down when you're here, it can get rather nasty."

"Uhuh," Harry nodded absently. He really didn't want to think about the previously unknown dark sides of his host family. "Do you think that Marietta bitch... sneak was serious about Luna.?"

"No," Ron shook his head. "She was just talking. Seriously, McGonagall was right. If she really wanted Luna dead she wouldn't have said anything."

"Yes, but..."

"But... you're worried," Ron stated. "Why don't you just..." Ron quickly looked around and whispered: "Why don't you just send a few Zerg to watch her?"

Harry sighed. "They'd need to come here through the muggle world..." He scratched his head. "Well, I guess it might actually work if they move at night."

"Be careful with the knife!" Ron hissed, seeing Harry almost poke himself in his ear. "Maybe its not that good an idea."

"It should work," the last Potter said sighing. "I can't rely on Marietta talking shit. She's pureblood... her mother was Umbridge's lackey... They might really have connections to Voldemort."

"And you and Luna being boyfriend and girlfriend isn't exactly a secret," Ron noted. "Merlin I hate peeling this shit!"

"Language Ron!" Ms. Weasley admonished, coming back into the kitchen. "In the ministry they don't talk like street sweepers."

"It probably wasn't the smartest idea to kiss her in front of the school," Harry had to admit, trying to ignore the Weasley matriarch's comment about his best friend. "Anyway, what's done is done. No use crying over spilled milk. Now I just have to deal with it."

Ron only raised his eyebrows but didn't say anything anymore, instead he focused on the blasted sprouts.

Ignoring the work, Harry concentrated on his mental connection to the swarm. Or rather a certain member of the swarm. {Adalbert,} Harry began. {Can you send ten zerglings to me? They'd need to move unseen, but I need them as a guard for Luna.}

{Unit Luna-Lovegood?}

{Yes, my girlfriend Luna.} Harry mentally stated. {Luna is close to where I'm now. Just send them to me and I'll know more then, ok?}

{I will assign two overlords to control the operation,} Adalbert affirmed. {We have managed to develop an improvement for our zerglings. They can now better discharge the generated body heat to the environment, which allowed us to increase their movement speed.}

This was good to know, the young Overmind thought. The zerglings had been barely faster than his drones, which made them cannon fodder to block anyone trying to get to his acrolisks. Useful, but cannon fodder nonetheless. Hopefully this improvement would increase their usefulness.

Thanking his overlord, Harry turned around only to see that Ms. Weasley was gone. "I see what you meant, Ron. I guess this explains it..."

"Explains what?" Ron echoed. "What are you talking about."

"Your family and the mirror of Erised," Harry said, throwing a cleaned sprout into the pot.

The youngest Weasley boy snorted. "Yeah, that thing is infamous for its uselessness, its curse. Sorry that I tattled to Dumbledore then, but I was really worried about you."

"You did?" Harry asked. "Thank you, but what do you mean with uselessness?"

"It doesn't show you your true heart's desire. It shows you what you think your true heart's desire is," Ron sighed. "I didn't want to be the second coming of Dumbledore or V..Voldemort, I wanted respect from my family."

Harry nodded. "I guess you're right. While a miraculous resurrection of my parents would have been nice, I really just wanted a family."

"Yeah, I probably shouldn't complain considering the Dursleys," Ron said, glaring at the vegetable in front of him. "Doesn't change the fact that she always, always gives Ginny better treatment and makes me do this useless shit. And the Howlers at Hogwarts," Ron shook his head. "Bill, Charlie, Percy... they're all gone. Well, Percy is a git."

"Who's talking about our older siblings, brother dear?" said Fred theatrically to George.

"It is the Weasley house-elves, brother dear," George laughed. "They enjoy the housework so much they even do it without magic."

"You see what I mean?" Ron muttered, trying to ignore his brothers as he cut at a sprout.

"Aah George, you're right," Fred said leaning against a wall. "They're even using knifes and everything. A truly elvish dedication to their work."

"Dedication?" Harry returned, raising his eyebrows.

"You gits know very well we don't do this for fun," Ron said grumpily. "Only two months and I'll be able to do it with magic."

"But meanwhile," said George, sitting down at the kitchen table and putting his feet up on it, "we can enjoy watching you demonstrate the correct use of a — whoops-a-daisy!"#

"Ouch... asshole!" Ron yelled, wiping blood off his thumb. "I'm so sick of this! I'm barely at home and already regret I've come at all. Hell, right now Percy is a more sympathetic person than you two bastards."

"Alas Fred, right now we are his only older brothers here, he'll have to do with us."

"Indeed George," Fred began, shooting a grin at his twin. "he can't do it with Hermione at the moment. Ah what we didn't hear from Gingin..."

It looked like Fred still wanted to add something, but he trailed off when he saw Ron's balled fists. Harry had never really seen Ron like this before. Well, there was the instance when the youngest Weasley boy thought Harry had kept him in the dark about tricking the goblet of fire, yet even then it hadn't been like this.

"You really think you're funny, right?!" Ron snarled, his wand was suddenly out, tightly gripped in his hand. "I see you for the first time in about half a year and you need to mock me, hurt me and then make fun about my girlfriend. Just fuck you!"

"Ronald! Language!" Molly Weasley shouted as she returned to the kitchen, levitating a basket in front of her. "We haven't raised you to cuss like that."

Ron was positively fuming, Harry could see the boy had one of his rage attacks again, yet this time he could actually empathize. Why did they need to pick on him all the time? It was no surprise his best friend couldn't keep his temper. Even the cupboards started to rattle, as Ron leveled his angry glare on his mother. Harry's best friend was losing control over his magic.

"You've raised me to be shit under your shoes," Ron shouted back. "Ronald, if you don't do your arithmancy homework you'll never be able to pay our rent," Ron sneered, apparently repeating a saying of his mother's. "Ron stop wasting your time with quidditch, you need to learn how to write properly."

Mrs. Weasley was obviously taken aback. "And? That's right."

"It's right? It's right!" Ron yelled, talking himself only further into rage. "Even these two," he pointed a Fred and George, "aren't living in the gutter, but no, we need to encourage Ron by telling him all the time how much he sucks."

Harry really wanted to be somewhere else. The Weasleys had been his great example for how a family was supposed to work. A role model that just went up in smoke.

"Don't try ancient runes, Ron, that's too hard for you anyway. Rather take Divination, everyone gets good grades there," Ron continued his tirade. "For three years I spent my evenings with predicting my own death for homework, just to get passable grades with that old hag only to totally fail in the O.W.L's there. Why the hell did I ever listen to you? You only tell me I suck too much to live anyway."

Ouch, Harry thought. Did the Weasleys really do that? It would certainly explain Ron's lack of self-confidence. You don't need to try, you'll fail anyway is no encouragement for a boy. Why had he never seen this before? The signs certainly had been there. He'd heard Ron's "heart's desire", yet the boy hadn't even attempted to achieve this. He knew Ron wasn't stupid yet the boy never really applied himself anywhere where his two best friends didn't rope him in.

The need to stand in the center, to make everyone know his achievements, yet this total lack of confidence. Harry had never really thought about why his friend felt that way, yet seeing him here, standing in the center of his family with a look of utmost defeat on his face made it obvious. Nagging and mocking... griping and teasing. It had whittled away Ron's confidence until just a mask of bravery was standing, while he really was hiding from what he perceived as the sad reality of his worthless life.

"I'm sorry Ron," said Mrs. Weasley silently, almost whispering. Not much remained from the usually brash Weasley matriarch. She looked almost as defeated as her youngest son. "I didn't know you felt that way."

Ron only snorted, staring holes in the sprouts. Meanwhile George had taken his feet from the kitchen table. Both him and Fred suddenly weren't smug anymore. They'd probably considered it harmless fun and totally missed the point where they slid into bully territory, Harry realized.

The stairs rumbled and suddenly Ginny was standing in the kitchen. "What is Ron looking like that," she asked. "Did you finally tell him to keep the fuck out of my love live?"

That was enough for Harry's best friend to explode again. "No, they didn't," Ron stated seemingly calm only to grow louder with each word. "But I don't give a shit anymore. Merlins shat underpants, just go and fuck Dean, your broom or your best friend, I don't care." He shot a look towards Harry before returning to glare at his sister. "You needed to play around... but hell, not my problem."

"Fucking. My. Broom!" Ginny groused, suddenly waving her wand around, spewing sparks.

"**Expelliarmus!**" chorused the Weasley twins as if they'd agreed on it. A knife was flying from Ron's hand, while Fred caught Ginny's wand.

"Hey!" Ron complained, while Ginny shouted: "What?!"

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Mrs. Weasley yelled, having regained her temper. "Ronald, not everyone is out to get you. Ginevra, just think before you open your mouth."

"But..." Ginny protested, while Ron just glared at his mother.

"I'm sick of this theater," the Weasley matriarch exclaimed. "Ron just finish the sprouts, we can talk about stuff later. Ginny come out with me, I need help with the laundry." Grabbing her daughter by the hand, Mrs. Weasley left the room.

"Do you have an idea what's wrong with Ron?" Fred whispered to Harry. The last Potter hadn't realized he'd retreated to the wall. "He's never exploded like this."

"Your mom pissed him off with a comment, and you guys didn't exactly make it better," Harry explained. "Was that cut really necessary?"

George shook his head. "That wasn't us. He just slipped or something, but we enjoy the illusion of omnipotence."

"Not a good idea in this case," Fred sighed. "I hope he cools down before lunch."

Harry shrugged, he didn't really know what to say. "Well, if we want to eat sometime today, I guess I need to go back to work. Except if you feel like helping of course."

"Nah," the twins chorused as Harry walked back to the sink. "Work is good for the soul... and your tempers. We don't want to take that training away."

"Gits," Ron muttered as Harry took up his knife. "At least they could have helped."

"Use sprouts for training," Harry mocked, taking up one of the hated vegetables. "What jokers." He glared at the two twins who were gathering up some stuff.

Harry's best friend groaned and said: "All that magic and we can't use our wands."

"Wands..." Harry thought aloud. "Um... guys, wait!" He shouted after the leaving twins.

"Yes, Harry? What can George and I do for you," George said.

"The trace... is it on the wizard or the wand?" Harry inquired.

"The wand," Fred replied. "How else could the ministry enforce the laws on underage wizardry."

A smirk played over Harry's face. "That's good to know. Very good to know."

"Oh, I get it," Ron grinned, seemingly putting his previous anger aside as he pulled out his wand and dropped it on the kitchen table. "I kinda wanted to learn this wandless stuff anyway. Can you explain it please, Harry."

"If mother knew," George laughed and waved as he left the house together with his twin.

"Well it's not like they can prove anything," Harry shrugged. "Who cares about the bloody law anyway."

It was only another measure to show the British muggle-borns how beloved they were by Wizarding society. Harry didn't know how Hermione's parents could stand it. They sent their daughter off to a school and she couldn't even show them what she'd learned. It made him wonder how many children actually went untrained.

"If you think so," Ron said, raising his eyebrows. "Anyway, how do we do this? Do you remember the kitchen charms?"

"Not by heart," Harry sighed. "Well there is the _animatus-charm_, but it's too complicated to use wandless. I guess we should just concentrate on what you want to do and then use the next best spell to do it. **Diffindo**!"

Four sprouts suddenly appeared properly done, yet the fifth was cut apart in the middle.

"Well, I guess I still have to practice it a bit," Harry said, grinning at his best friend. "I think you should try doing a single one first..."

"Less to mess up, right?" Ron said nodding as he pulled a single sprout out of the heap. "**Diffindo!**"

"A bit too much cut off, I think."

XXXHPASXXX

"A rabbit... a squirrel," the biologist said to his colleague. "I told you it was a bad spot for a photo trap. Look, it caught another branch again." He held up a developed photo.

"Walter, at least my trap caught something," the other biologist retorted. "Yours only made one photo over the whole winter."

"At least mine wasn't so obvious someone decided to prank it, Matthew," Walter, the biologist, said as he waved another photo around. "Look at this! I don't know how they did this, but it can't possibly be real."

"A razor snout... two scythe limbs, those ram horns on its head as well as those things looking a little like wings... ," Matthew recounted, scratching his head. "It does look weird. The coloration could have come right out of an Impressionist's studio."

Walter just sighed. "Another fucker messing with us. I know the foresters don't like us very much, but..."

"But you shouldn't have antagonized them," the second Biologist shook his head. "Still, I wonder how they did this. It looks pretty lifelike. Almost... alien."

"Like the films?" Walter the biologist raised his eyebrows. "They weren't purplish-brown."

"No, but this doesn't look like a fake. Not something some stupid deer-fuckers could have done," Matthew said, shooting a scathing look at his colleague. "I wouldn't publish this in a journal, but we should tell the government. This thing looks too real and too dangerous."

XXXHPASXXX

**Authors Note:**** Sorry for the delay, but I was kinda busy today… Parents roped me into a family evening of watching Star-Wars ;)**

**Anyway, now you know my personal interpretation of why Ron is the way he is. I tried not to be too bashy. I doubt Molly Weasley actually realizes what she's doing. She's probably not even meaning it maliciously, but you can see the effects. I prefer this explanation to those that infer that Ron's essentially a dumb fuck. He's not, he's only fearing failure too much to even try.**

**As you've seen stuff starts to move. I fear I was a bit too slow with it, focused a bit too much on Harry Potter matters, but I try to do better. It's a bit hard though when I'm writing during the time when some potentially plot relevant things in HP canon actually happen and it is not all romance drama.**

**I'd like to thank Evillevi for his or her awesome review. I'll try to answer it as soon as I'll find some time. You really pointed out some good points. Anyway, thanks to all of you who bothered to write some reviews. I'm pretty much pressed for time lately… which is my own fault *sigh*Anyway, I read them all even if I couldn't answer to all of you. Some of your questions were actually answered in former authors notes…**

**I only plan to use three (four) buildings from StarCraft, which are hatchery, spawning pool, evolution chamber and nydus worm (the latter needs to be developed). I only use three original units from Starcraft that are drone, overlord, zergling, but I will develop some equivalent for others. Considering their base in a magical forest these Zerg will be more psy ability oriented though.**

**Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed my story so far. **


	15. Chapter 16

**Chapter Published: **05.04.2013

* * *

_Disclaimer:__ Elements of this story are copyrighted by other parties. My wallet complains, but I own neither StarCraft nor the Harry Potter franchise__. _

_If you thought I did, I'd love to know where you got that idea. Everything not owned by J. K. Rowling and Blizzard Entertainment (or whatever their name is right now) is owned by me._

_Thanks to Richard for betaing this story._

**Part 16:**

"Mate, wake up," Ron said, shaking Harry out of his dreams. "Presents!" the youngest male Weasley announced gleefully.

"Do I have to?" Harry groaned. He didn't want to stand up, he'd just dreamed how his Zergmantula protected the hatchery and its adjuncts with magical webs. It had been such a satisfying feeling, floating in and out of the minds of his swarm members. Doing exactly nothing, but still having a feeling of accomplishment.

Yet his best friend didn't care. Mercilessly dragging a yawning Harry behind, Ron stormed out of his room.

"Mate, at least let me dress up," Harry protested.

Ron just shook his head, ignoring his best mate's complaints. "Pajamas are dressed up enough. You won't freeze, so come on."

Ron wasn't really dressed better than him, Harry had to admit to himself. The youngest Weasley boy was only dressed in a bathrobe himself. It turned out this apparently was appropriate dress for the red-headed family. When Harry and Ron arrived, they actually were last as the others had already assembled in front of the great fireplace. Pajamas, bathrobes, fluffy sportswear... The Weasleys didn't care at all for their looks.

"Isn't this a bit cold?" Harry whispered to Ginny, who was only wearing underwear and a bra that showed off her boobs. Giving Harry considerable difficulty looking at her face.

She shook her head. "Warming charm."

Harry shrugged. If she wanted to run around half naked it wasn't his problem. He certainly didn't plan to get in a row with the fiery Weasley girl. She and Ron were still glaring at each other once in awhile. Yesterday it had been so bad that the Weasley twins inquired with Harry what was going on. While they thought the Pigwidgeon story rather funny, they'd promised to help get their younger siblings' heads out of their asses.

Meanwhile Harry saw the presents were distributed around the fireplace. A rather muggle tradition that made him wonder how many people might use the floo to steal others' Christmas presents. Then again, considering the pureblood fanatics conservatism, it might only be a few Wizards who follow this custom. Harry wouldn't have been very surprised if they still called Christmas Midwinter and danced around bonfires on a hill or something.

Mrs. Weasley placed herself in front of the fireplace: "Alright, now that everyone is here, we can begin..."

And then the distribution of presents began. Harry got a new Weasley pullover, a book on quidditch from Ron, a Nargle swatter from Luna - which turned out to be an enchanted muggle fly swat. It actually got both Ron and his sister to laugh together. Harry couldn't wait to test it on Luna's Nargles or Malfoy.

"Um... Ron, do you know what this is?" Harry asked, raising Luna's second present, a flask filled with a blue liquid.

"This..." Bill gasped as Ron pointed towards a small card at the bottle's side Harry had somehow missed. Meanwhile the wins gave Harry strange looks. "It's an alexandroid memory potion.

"Alex and what?" Harry echoed, before the swarm memory provided the whole sentence.

,"Dude, I hope you have a good present for your girlfriend," Fred said, staring at the potion.

Seeing Harry's confused expression, George explained: "This potion really improves your memory during the time it's active. You can recall everything, it improves your understanding of everything you think about and makes you generally smarter while it is active. Hell, it's said that it makes you permanently smarter."

"So..." Harry said, rubbing his forehead, "why doesn't everyone use them?"

"I've got an orange one," Ron, who'd continued unpacking his own presents, interjected, holding up a bottle of his own.

Bill raised his eyebrows. "...because they're expensive as hell. Even the ingredients are expensive, it's said to be hard to brew and only a few know the recipe."

As he poked his twin in the side, George pointed at Ron's present. "Is this what I think it is?"

"Yes brother dear... It looks like little Luna truly cherishes her friends. I wonder for what reason."

"It's not so funny," Harry said, making a grimace on the memory. "Didn't Ron or Ginny tell you what happened?"

"Noo..." Fred said, shaking his head theatrically. "Our little siblings didn't deign to enlighten us since we're no longer the terrors of Hogwarts castle."

"Alas tell us young Harry," George continued after exchanging a quick glance with his brother. "What makes cute Ronnikins deserve a potion of Archilleus?"

"A potion of Archilleus? What is..." Harry began to ask, but then he remembered the twin's question. "Well, Ravenclaw lost a student this term and Gryffindor gained one..."

Afterwards Harry wasn't quite certain how it had happened, but in what felt like moments the whole Weasley family was hanging at his lips, hearing about the events that lead to Luna's change of House. The consensus in the family was that it was a shame. A shame for Ravenclaw and Hogwarts. They weren't quite sure what to think about the presents though. It almost looked like Mrs. Weasley had a problem with the pure monetary worth of those gifts, but both Harry and Ron wouldn't let them go.

The Archilleus potion would prove invaluable for Ron's quidditch career, considering that power enhancement rituals didn't count as cheating in professional quidditch. Magic opened so many avenues to modify or improve one's body that the leagues decided everything is legal as long as it doesn't affect the mind, permanently damages body or magic, whether of the users or the opposing players'.

When the family's curiosity was satisfied, they all returned to unpacking their remaining presents. Harry even got one from Kreacher, he knew the house elf didn't like him. But Maggots? Well, the twins had a laugh, so it wasn't all bad. Harry meanwhile decided to take this as a prank and look for appropriate revenge. He certainly wouldn't let the hateful house elf destroy his Christmas or make him do things he'd later regret. Maybe Hermione had an idea... she could just try to convince the elf of the advantages of payment... Dobby might even help.

Oh yes, a grin played over Harry's face. Revenge would be sweet. Thinking about revenge, the last Potter remembered yesterday's letter. Eldred Worple, the author, had written. He'd negotiated a deal with Litzka Bookcopy of the Bookcopy publishing house. A good deal that would fill his Gringotts vault and also allow him to get his story out. Oh he wouldn't want to be in Fudge's skin once that book hit the market.

Dumbledore didn't want him to leave the castle, but Harry honestly didn't care. He was sick of letting others dictate his life. First Voldemort, then the Dursleys and lately Dumbledore. While the man might have good reasons for his actions, Harry wasn't so sure if those reasons were good enough for him. If enabling him to have a childhood meant leaving him with the Dursleys and letting him run into death traps because he lacked critical information, Harry didn't want to know what keeping him safe really meant.

He knew he was being unfair, but he also knew he needed to start thinking for himself. He didn't just have himself to consider, there were also his friends and the swarm. And really, secretly meeting an author at Honeydukes shouldn't be that big a problem, considering he had his invisibility cloak and the secret passages. Although he wasn't certain if they were still open considering the Death Eater situation.

"Mate, mate, are you dreaming?" Harry heard Ron say.

He shook his head. "No, just thinking, sorry. Did I miss something?"

"Lupin is here and it is time for lunch," Ron reminded his friend.

They'd retreated to Ron's room after breakfast, so that Mrs. Weasley couldn't bother them with household tasks. One time sprouts had been enough, especially considering the time Ron had used too much power for his wandless diffindo. Explaining that to Mrs. Weasley... No, Harry didn't want to think about it, didn't want to remember it.

Now it was time to see Remus Lupin though. The man had certainly been his best defense teacher. Fake moody hadn't been all that bad, but then the man had to go and try to kill him. Harry had no idea what was wrong with his defense teachers. It didn't make him feel good about Snape at all. Yet there was nothing he could do. Dumbledore had deemed the asshole important.

"Hi, Pr... Remus," Harry greeted his parents' friend after coming down the stairs with Ron. "Merlin, what happened to you?" Harry was shocked to see Lupin's bad condition. His skin looked scratched and his clothing was even rattier than when he'd first seen the man in the Hogwarts Express in his third year.

"Yes, eh looks dreadfuul," Fleur said. "**Dépanner**!"

Looking down at himself, Lupin could only nod. "Thank you, I fear I'm not that proficient with household spells."

"Instead you're the best defense teacher we ever had," Ron defended the man. "Right now we have to suffer with Snape."

"Yeah, only good thing is that he'll be gone at the end of the year," Harry said, an evil grin played over his face. "No more detentions for sneezing, no more loss of points for looking like my father."

"It can't be that bad," Remus Lupin tried to placate them.

Ron just snorted. "It isn't if your name isn't Harry Potter. I don't understand how Dumbledore can let the man into the same room as Harry."

"Yeah," Fred, who'd just listened in so far, agreed. "Snape doesn't even bother to hide his hatred. Everyone at Hogwarts knows. Well everyone who isn't the teachers it seems."

"Enough about Snape," Harry said. He really didn't want to think or worse talk about the evil Slytherin head of house at Christmas. "Prof... Remus, what happened to you?"

"I tried to negotiate with the Werewolves," the ex-defense teacher said. "Tried to convince them not to join on Voldemort's side."

"Oh man," Harry said sighing. "I can see why that wouldn't work. Even Voldemort couldn't make their situation much worse than it is now, right?"

Remus Lupin slowly nodded. "Indeed, I fear you're right about this. And there is of course Greyback." The resident werewolf's face contorted into a grimace of anger. Not a big surprise, considering Greyback was the one who infected him in the first place. "Apparently Greyback has some kind of treaty with Voldemort." Remus shrugged. "Although I doubt either side plans to stick to it. Voldemort thinks Werewolfs are useful tools but ultimately unworthy to live, while Greyback hopes that the war will reduce Wizardkind enough for the Werewolves to take over."

"What do you mean, can't get much worse?" Ron asked confused. "I knew people didn't like Werewolf's very much but is it really that bad?"

Fleur coughed slightly. "Zee british are barbarians," the half-vela stated. "Your gouvernment treats zee Werewolves like dogs with rabies... executions for stolen vegetables if I remember correctly."

Lupin slowly nodded in angry acknowledgment. "They prevent us from getting jobs in the muggle world... claiming we're a risk to the Statute of Secrecy. Some of us scrounge the muggle waste bins... others have even murdered for food."

"Zee British... your government has made certain that zee... well most werewolves will hate you for generations."

Harry had to agree. "The only things the Wizengamot can apparently agree on is to terrorize the other magical races. They don't dare it with the Goblins, but then nobody sane would aggravate those little demons."

"Demons?" Bill asked, raising his eyebrows.

Harry shrugged. "Well, not really... but what I've read about their customs... how do you manage to deal with them Bill?"

"It's not easy," the Cursebreaker sighed. "Didn't we just talk about werewolves?"

"Yes, we did," Remus Lupin said. "While I tried to convince them not to join, they're desperate. The worst restrictions happened under Dumbledore's reign as Chief Warlock, so they won't listen to anyone suspected to work for him. They see me as a traitor and Dumbledore's pet." He shrugged. "They'll join Voldemort. Fudge and his predecessors have made sure of it."

Yes, it was always evil to invent new harassments for the defenseless, to show the clueless masses how one acted against criminality and evil. Abraxas Malfoy had explained how it worked in his book. He'd suggested a 'vermin' extermination every two generations or so that the 'beasts' couldn't become a threat. Greyback's grunts probably didn't know or didn't want to know. Yet considering what some 'light' wizards had done to them in the past Harry wasn't too surprised they were willing to try a dark lord for once.

"Why didn't they just emigrate to France," Ginny said, shooting a doubtful look at Fleur.

"Because my gouvernement iz not that much better," Fleur said, rolling her eyes. "They claim they are not able to tell Greyback's terrorists from the innocent Werewolf."

"They fear that Greyback's militant Werewolvism will infect France," Remus explained sadly. "I can't say they're wrong. Greyback is plain evil and so are many of his minions."

"I can see how that would be a problem," Mrs. Weasley said, interrupting the conversation. The Weasley Matriarch pointed towards the table. "The food will be cold if we don't begin the meal." She wrinkled her forehead. "You could really use some decent meals, Remus."

"I guess you're right," the werewolf agreed as he took a seat. "No point in moping about things I can't change anyway."

"How is Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes?" Harry meanwhile asked the twins, taking seat himself. "I heard you've made a big profit selling love potions."

"Yes, how do you know?" George asked back.

"Every girl and her sister tried to slip Harry one," Ron said, rolling his eyes. "What were you thinking when you started to mass produce them?"

Fred had the grace to look ashamed. "That we could make a good profit with them."

"We might be able to save our investor from unfortunate... accidents, right brother dear?" George said, a grin played over his lips.

"Indeed we can, George, indeed we can," Fred shot back. "We wouldn't sell something like love potions without an antidote, would we?"

George shook his head theatrically. "We wouldn't Fred. We wouldn't want the ire of the mighty Lord Black when he suddenly finds himself loving sister dear." He flinched, when he was skewered by an angry glare from Ginny.

"Alas that is not very likely," Fred continued, "as our dear sister has found love with Dean."

"I hate you," Ginny said, while Ron snickered. She then turned to Harry. "I wouldn't do that to you."

"Ok guys," George said. "We'll get you some antidote and some way to identify the potion the next time we get to our shop."

"Thanks, I really don't want to scare Luna..." Harry said.

"I can imagine that wouldn't be good," Bill said, who'd apparently listened to them with one ear.

On the other side of the table Arthur Weasley was loudly asking: "Remus, do you think Hermione's parents would show me their car? They'll come by car right?"

"Mom, dad!" Ron suddenly exclaimed, almost shouting. "There's Percy outside the window."

Indeed there he was. The young man wasn't alone though, Harry realized as he was swept towards the door. Percy was with the Minister. Harry doubted this was a reunion with the estranged family member as soon as he saw the Ministers face. Whatever Scrimgeour wanted, it probably wasn't reconciling his assistant with the rest of the Weasley family. He'd seen and read about the man in the daily prophet... Scrimgeour didn't seem like the sentimental type.

"Percy!" Mrs. Weasley almost screamed as she opened the door.

Arthur was more sceptical: "Hello son, what brings you here on this beautiful Christmas day?"

"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, may I borrow Mr. Potter," the Minister interjected before Percy could answer. "I need to talk to him concerning... the safety of the wizarding world."

'Did they know about the swarm?', Harry wondered. No, there shouldn't be a way. Well, better to get over with it instead of delaying a possible Weasley reunion. Not that Harry really believed in it. Harry raised his eyebrows, but followed the Minister out. He was somewhat curious what the man wanted after all.

Especially considering Percy's cold reaction towards his family. Merlin, the guy looked like he'd rather be anywhere else than with his family. What the hell was wrong with the man? He'd been wrong about Fudge, Voldemort, everything and his family was willing to forgive him the idiotic behaviour and yet he still, still cared more about his 'career' in a ministry that was fighting a losing war against Voldemort than to make up with his family. Harry couldn't understand.

Shooting a disgusted glare at the social climber, Harry followed the Minister into the snow. He could barely suppress his need to tell the man what he really thought of him, but then it wouldn't be helpful to call the most powerful man in the Wizarding bureaucracy an arsehole.

"Mr. Scrimgeour, what can I do for you?" Harry politely asked, when they were out of listening range, standing in the shade of some skeleton like apple trees. The snow and the winter sun gave them a ghostly look.

"I've wanted to meet you for a very long time," said Scrimgeour, after a few moments. "Did you know that?"#

Harry shook his head. "No, I did not, but..." but it was apparently some kind of pilgrimage in the wizarding world to shake his hand. Not that Harry would ever tell that to the Minister.

Scrimgeour shrugged to himself. "Well, I did, for a very long time. Yet Dumbledore was rather protective of you. I can understand of course."

"Considering our last Ministers greatest sponsors it was more than justified, I believe," Harry said, raising his eyebrows.

The Minister nodded. "Indeed, it was a rather embarrassing event for the last Minister to find his friend in death-eater robes."

Harry decided to press the point. "And have you tried to find out if your stoutest supporters might sport a certain mark on their arm?" He raised his eyebrows. "Considering the last few years, your whole ministry is probably overflowing with Death Eaters."

"I'm aware of that," the Minister replied. "It's why I'm here. I need 'The-Boy-Who-Lived's support to get them out."

He might have a point, Harry had to acknowledge. Ensuring Harry Potter's safety during a visit to the ministry might allow him to actually do something against the subversive forces in his administration. Harry was no fool though, he didn't know much about Scrimgeour's other policies and really didn't want to enable another conservative to discriminate against his friends.

"The-boy-who-lived's support?" Harry echoed. "I do have a real name, you know?"

"Yes, I'm quite aware, but considering there have been rumors… rumors about a prophecy, a chosen one…"

"You need a propaganda tool," Harry said, finishing the Minister's sentence. "I see…"

Scrimgeour shrugged, obviously not ashamed about it. "Yes Mr. Potter, the ministry needs your support."

"I would feel flattered," Harry replied scoffing. "If not the very same ministry under the same party constellation and pretty much the same administration had done its very best to paint me as some kind of raving lunatic and hasn't even publicly apologized to me for it. Merlin's shat underwear, you still employ Umbridge in a position of authority. That bitch threatened me with Crucio and tortured me with Blood quills for a year." Somehow Harry had managed not to yell at the Minister, but his voice had become colder with each word. "Why Minister, why should I support your ministry?"

Scrimgeour looked shocked before he managed to return to his previous pokerface. Still, a certain horror was in his voice when he said: "Tortured with Blood Quills?"

Harry raised his right hand. "I must not tell lies, Minister. I must not tell the _lie_ that Voldemort is indeed back." Harry could barely suppress a groan, seeing the Minister flinch at the mention of his enemy's name.

"A ministry employee did this to you… just to stop you from mentioning he-who-must-not-be-named's return."

"Are you serious?" Harry said, before he could stop himself. "You, the Minister, he-who-needs-to-defeat-Voldemort is incapable of saying his name?" Harry balled his fists. "I don't get it, what's wrong with you that you're that scared by the man and his group of mostly incompetent murderers?"

"The fact that he murdered everyone who ever spoke his name?" Scrimgeour suggested, a bit of anger was sneaking into his voice.

Harry didn't stop though, his frustrations with the wizarding world overwhelmed his patience. "And how did he do it? Highjack the trace system? Why didn't you just call him Dark Tosser, the supreme asshole, Lord Moldyshorts?"

The Minister just shrugged, obviously uncomfortable with the direction their conversation took. He didn't really have an answer to that question anyway. And there were more pressing things on his agenda. Like getting Harry Potter to agree to help the ministry and maybe cleanse it from Voldemort supporters.

"While I don't know why we're all incapable of saying his name, I think we have more pressing concerns."

Harry nodded. "Yes, the fact that I don't trust the ministry."

Scrimgeour winced. "I am certain this won't have to be a permanent problem," the Minister stated. "Ms. Umbridge's conduct will be reviewed. She may have some clout at the ministry, but she won't survive this scandal."

"You intend to kill her?" Harry asked, not sure if he had to take this literal. "I guessed that the punishment for abusing a heir of a noble and most ancient house would be bad, but I didn't expect a death sentence."

Scrimgeour raised his eyebrows. "I was not aware you were a heir of such a house." Harry could clearly hear the doubts in his voice.

"Few are," Harry simply remarked. "Yet it doesn't change the fact that my godfather Sirius made me the heir of the House of Black."

"This is _interesting_," the Minister said, more to Himself than to Harry. "It'll make it easier to persecute Umbridge. She will be held accountable for her crimes against you."

"I would be glad to hear this," Harry stated. "Yet my main concern is whoever set the Dementors on me that attacked me one and a half year ago… When the whole Wizengamot was to decide about my expulsion from Hogwarts, you know?"

"Yes…" Scrimgeour slowly nodded. "I have to make inquiries with the aurors about investigations into that incident." He sighed. "Not that I expect anything substantial so far... Fudge will have interfered with all investigations."

"It would be too awkward if the public knew that the boy-who-lies actually said the truth..." Harry shook his head. "Minister, does the ministry actually own the prophet?"

"No... it used to be owned by the Malfoys, the Blacks and the Notts." A smirk played over Scrimgeour's face. "But we couldn't leave a publishing organ in the hands of a known Death Eater like Malfoy..."

"So you expropriated Malfoy," Harry said, leaning against a garden-post. "I hope you didn't expropriate me on top of it... as everyone seems to believe young Draco would be the Black heir."

"No, we had a treaty with the Blacks that they'd surrender Sirius," Scrimgeour said and Harry grimaced hearing this, "without a trial and the ministry would leave their property untouched. So, are you willing to help us and come to the ministry once in awhile to show the public that Harry Potter _'the chosen one' _is fighting with the ministry?"

Judged and delivered by his own family, Harry thought. He was not really listening to Scrimgeour after hearing about his late godfather. Sirius had been sold, sold by his disgusting family who either wanted to get rid of him or loved their property more than their son.

"Mr. Potter," Scrimgeour reminded, pulling Harry from his thoughts.

"Ah yes, sorry," Harry said, grinning sheepishly. "I guess I can come sometimes but it needs to fit in my school schedule." He scratched his head. "Why don't you just use polyjuice or a metamorph? I think Nymphadora Tonks would know me well enough to deceive the press."

Not that the press really mattered if he understood the Minister's last statement correctly. The ministry controlled the Malfoy shares of the Prophet and Harry himself controlled the Black share. Apparently the press could print whatever their owners wanted in the wizarding world. Merlin's pants, if he'd known about the Black ownership last year, he might even have stopped the smear campaign.

"Yes that's what we'd do if we'd plan a trap," the Minister said, "but I can only justify the purges if you really come."

"I see," Harry said, cupping his own chin in his palm. "I like your ideas, but if you really want to use me as your mascot, I want a general pardon for whatever happens in this war." Harry looked the Minister in the eyes. "I don't want to end in Azkaban, because some imperiused soldiers of Voldemort ended up dead. If I actually have to fight Voldemort's Death Eaters again I won't do it with stunners." Harry glanced towards the Burrow. "The last time my godfather died and I can thank all the gods it was only him..."

The Minister nodded. "Yes, you can consider yourself lucky that your friends survived." Seeing Harry's look he amended: "I have to admit you did a good job training them yet by all rights it should have ended up a tragedy. However I guess I can get the wizengamot to give you a pardon, especially if we use the prophecy."

Harry snorted. "The prophecy... right. I don't know why Dumbledore is so cagey about it as it says nothing really new, but maybe he has a good reason... or wants to use it as propaganda." The last Potter shrugged. "One never knows with the old man."

"He is a political animal." Scrimgeour admitted. "He was already playing the political games when I was still in my diapers. My childhood trousers aside, the sooner we have the meeting the better."

"Not too soon," Harry shook his head. "If you want to use it for more than propaganda you need some preparation. Hell, use it to check your aurors' political tendencies... maybe even put people under veritaserum and ask them if they experience the effects of being under an imperius curse."

"Merlin," Scrimgeour said. "That might even work... Veritaserum is expensive though."

Harry shrugged. The ministry budget wasn't his problem. Surviving his visit and getting something out of it was his problem.

Thinking about getting something. "As I said I won't do it for free. Set whatever date you want and I'll try to get myself free then, but I want something. Rescind the disgusting policy for Werewolves. You can call yourself lucky that most can't use magic or you'd have a more dangerous foe than Voldemort."

"That will be difficult... very difficult," the Minister said, obviously reluctant. "Most people are highly suspicious of werewolves... considering the rate of violent crime among them."

Harry shook his head angrily. "I would be a criminal too if I couldn't earn money for a living. And I'd be violent too if I could get executed for stealing vegetables. If someone sees you and they get away you're dead anyway. What the hell were you guys thinking when you made that law?"

"I didn't agree with it," Scrimgeour said. "Merlin, it was a trainwreck coming from the beginning. Nonetheless Umbridge managed to gather enough votes from the conservatives and several members from other factions..."

"Umbridge? Umbridge! Just use her trial to rescind those laws. If I was a werewolf I might be tempted to join Voldemort myself..."

"Alright, I'll try my best. It will be part of the general public clean-up of the old administration." The Minister shot a look towards his assistant at the Burrow's door. Percy still hadn't stepped in, Harry realized with disappointment.

Meanwhile Scrimgeour continued: "Maybe you can come to the ministry and we'll do Umbridge's trial on the way. That way Dumbledore can't interfere..." he grinned. Apparently the old man had really blocked him. "I'll send you an owl once everything is ready."

"Thank you," Harry said. "Just don't use your assistant the next time you want to contact me." He nodded towards Percy at the door. "This is more than just a bit cruel. I don't know what's wrong with the guy."

"Yes," the Minister coughed. "Sorry, after the way Dumbledore behaved I expected more resistance against a meeting and..."

"And brought the nuke to break it..." Harry said, raising his eyebrows. "Whatever. Just please use some other way to contact me next time."

Scrimgeour nodded slightly and looked at his watch. "Thank you for your time Mr. Potter. It was nice to meet you."

"Likewise Minister. I hope that the remainder of your day is less stressful."

"Phew finally," Scrimgeour exclaimed. "Oops, did I say that out loud?"

Harry slowly nodded. What was the man talking about?

"It seems like Percy got his head out of his arse and went in," the Minister said, explaining his outburst. "Merlin, the boy is stuffy. Tell him he doesn't need to return to work today... no tell him he mustn't or he'll probably come back anyway."

**Authors Note****: Okay… this chapter is kinda lacking on Zerg parts, but I had no ideas beyond some „witty" comments of swarm members on the discussion with the minister. I left them out since they turned out to be a distraction and no help. Well, at least I got done with the part of book six that bugged me most. "I'm Dumbledore's loyal slave. Don't bug me minister and go bugger yourself." Sheesh. The whole scene made utterly no sense in book six so I simply wrote my own interpretation. I hope you liked it.**

**I think I should clarify something about the last chapter. The scientists finding a photograph of zerglings has no muggle consequences yet, but the people responsible in the muggle ministries will relate it to their magical counterparts who realize this is close to Hogwarts…**

**You'll see Harry's transformation when it happens… there will be definitely more Zerg development in the next few chapters. The swarm has reached a critical size right now.**

**Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks to everyone who bothered to review. I'm sorry for those where I couldn't answer, but the last weeks had me kinda stressed. I hope I can return to my update schedule now.**


	16. Chapter 17

**Chapter Published: **21.04.2013

* * *

_Disclaimer:__ Elements of this story are copyrighted by other parties. My wallet complains, but I own neither StarCraft nor the Harry Potter franchise :(. _

_If you thought I did, I'd love to know where you got that idea. Everything not owned by J. K. Rowling and Blizzard Entertainment (or whatever their name is right now) is owned by me._

_Thanks to Richard for betaing this story._

**Part 17:**

"You can go now, Percy, the Minister is done," Harry said as he returned to the Burrow. Percy had just declined another time to stay with his parents and Harry was sick of his behaviour. "On the other hand he said you could stay, if you _finally got your head out of your arse_."

Harry was just fed up with it. Last year he'd felt somewhat responsible for the family breakup, but now... now, not anymore. The Minister may have used him to talk to Harry, yet Scrimgeour would have had other options if he really wanted. Bringing Percy could only mean he'd planned for a Weasley family reunion. Risking aggravating Harry and the Weasley family when he wanted something from Harry was nothing a politician would do intentionally.

"What?" Both Percy and Ron said disbelieving.

"Scrimgeour said he was glad you finally reconciled with your family," Harry elaborated. "Apparently he can't stand the supreme asslicker act anymore. What kind of image do you want to present anyway?"

"I can't believe it," the twins chorused . "Even the Minister wants you to get down from your high horse... um... your head out of your arse."

Percy blinked. "Are you serious?"

"Do I look like my late godfather," Harry sneered. "Of course I'm serious. I don't know what's wrong with you, but you can't make a career if you're known as a doormat. Honestly what's wrong? I mean while I get why Ron is pissed off with your parents, I don't understand your problem at all."

Harry really didn't understand. Percy always seemed like he was totally sure of himself, not someone who'd just run away in rage. Yet only someone like Fudge, Umbridge or Voldemort's supporters would actually respect him for something like that.

Percy turned around looking at him. "Well, if you really need to know... not that it concerns you even a little bit. Well, first I'm told," he glared at his mother, "that the ministry is the ultimate place to work if you want to achieve anything in the wizarding world, and then," another glare was leveled at his father, "I learn that my father is known as the ministry fool and they actually expected me to be the same way." Molly Weasley looked like she wanted to say something, but Percy continued: "Merlin, while I realized it just half a year ago, they made me Crouch's secretary because nobody expected anything of me. 'Headboy by Dumbledore's grace'..."

"That's not true," Mrs. Weasley interjected. "You earned your Head Boy position rightfully."

"It doesn't matter," Percy shook his head. "It doesn't matter whether I did or not. The only thing that matters is how people perceive it. And it doesn't help to be known as Dumbledore's charity case," Percy grimaced. "'The old fool of course helps his minions' families'," Percy said, mimicking a voice that reminded Harry of Malfoy senior.

"Right, but the opinion of a Death Eater matters?" Harry asked, raising his eyebrows. "Just because he was rich enough to bribe the judges on his trial that they wouldn't push for veritaserum doesn't mean he's a respected member of society."

"Yes, I know now, but I couldn't know then..."

"You couldn't know Malfoy gave your sister a cursed diary from Voldemort?" Bill asked angrily.

"You couldn't know how Draco Malfoy always claimed the 'Dark Lord' would wreak terrible revenge over all blood traitors?" Fred asked in the same vein.

Percy shook his head angrily.

"Son, why did you listen to these people," Arthur Weasley asked exasperated. "The only way they'd ever accept you would be if you became a Death Eater..."

"Is that what you think of me," Percy groused. "That I'm one of the Death Eaters?" He was visibly upset.

"Of course not!" Ginny shouted. She'd been suspiciously silent so far. "I think you're the biggest prat in the world… except maybe Ron," she shot a glare at her youngest brother. "No Death Eater would be together with Penelope."

"What she said," George said.

"Although Ron is not that big a prat," Fred defended his brother, "I'm glad you're actually talking to us again."

Percy looked happier if a bit defeated. "Did you really think I was going to become a Death Eater, dad?"

Arthur Weasley shook his head. "I hoped not, but seeing you toady up to Fudge and Malfoy…"

"Come on Percy…" Bill said. "Join us for lunch, the whole thing got ridiculous when You-Know-Who made his appearance in the ministry."

Yeah it did but then Percy had been really involved with Fudge's clique and Harry didn't know how much Percy depended on them. He'd somehow become Scrimgeour's assistant but that could easily change if powerful members of the ministry would speak up against him. A minion like him was expendable after all. Still there was some hope...

"Percy," Harry said. "Umbridge is about to take a very long fall and if everything works right, she'll take a lot of people with her." A smirk played over Harry's lips. "You don't want to be associated with them."

"Did you just tell me, I should stop shunning my family and instead shun those who helped make my career?" Percy asked incredulously. "Because they're going to take a fall… Whatever," he shrugged. "The Minister really wanted me to stay?"

Harry nodded. "Yes, he said you mustn't return to work today. Take it as a Christmas present or something."

{Overmind, a human… half giant is intruding into our territory,} the hivemind sent. {It is unit Hagrid. Designated as friendly but problematic.}

'_Crap_,' Harry thought to himself. They'd just finished lunch and Percy had returned to his own home. The young man was still uncomfortable around his family, but hopefully that would ebb over time. One trouble solved and the next appeared. Killing Hagrid obviously was no solution. It scared Harry that he even thought about it. Maybe he could just hide his zerg, Hagrid might go away if he didn't find a new interesting creature.

{Unit Hagrid saw a drone,} the hivemind said, crushing his hopes. {Unit Hagrid follows its movement vector.}

{You can leave out the unit,} Harry told the hivemind. {Please don't tell me the movement vector leads directly towards the hatchery.}

{Hagrid is walking directly to the center of the hive,} the hivemind affirmed its Overmind's fears. {Should we eliminate him?}

"No!" Harry yelled, drawing in bewildered looks from the Weasley family. "Sorry, I had a daymare."

"V...Voldemort?" Remus Lupin asked.

Harry shook his head. "No, I'd been daydreaming... and it wasn't nice."

He really needed to learn not to talk aloud when speaking to the swarm, Harry thought. If he continued like this they'd all think he was insane. Well at least Ron knew what was going on. The youngest Weasley son didn't look worried at all.

Leaning back in his armchair, Harry focusedon the hivemind. {No you should not eliminate a friendly unit. Merlin, I'm using your stupid words already.}

{The hivemind uses precise terms.}

{Can we talk to Hagrid?} Harry inquired. He still hoped he could divert Hagrid. {Can an overlord contact him telepathically or something?}

{The swarm can try, yet we haven't attempted contacting non swarm members so far.}

{He's stopping,} Harry sent, watching his friend on his mental map. {Crap, he's found the creep... and probably sees the webs. This is not good.}

{Unit Hagrid is retreating,} the hivemind remarked and indeed he was.

{Did you do something?} Harry asked curiously. He only got a mental headshake for an answer.

This should have been it, yet looking on his mental map, Harry wasn't too happy. He wasn't happy at all. Hagrid didn't go back to his hut, he went to the centaurs. This wasn't over. Not by a long shot.

"So why did you come here exactly?" Ginny asked, lightly poking Harry in the side.

Harry shrugged. "I don't know myself. I guess I just want to say goodbye to Sirius."

He'd somehow managed to convince Arthur Weasley to allow him to come here. Well, Ron and Ginny had joined him. Ron was sick of his mother's subtle harassment and Ginny... well Ginny had always gotten along well with Sirius. She probably also missed him.

"I guess..." Ginny sighed. "I wouldn't know what I'd do if... Hey, look!"

She was pointing at Mundungus Fletcher, Mundungus Fletcher who was carrying a bag with silver things poking out.

"**Expelliarmus****!**" Harry cast, anger contorting his face as he caught the bag. He hadn't even realized his wand was in his hand, he just wanted the thief stopped. "Kreacher!" Harry shouted, only to jerk back as a blue spell streaked past his face.

"**Stupefy**!" Ginny yelled. "Merlin, Harry! Look what you're doing! He'd taken his wand out!"

Harry was shocked. He really hadn't been careful. Already focused on his next task, but crap. Whatever that spell was it wasn't good considering the damage at the wall behind him. He'd gone on about Malfoy being a danger that nobody took serious... and now here he was dangerously underestimating this bloody thief himself. Underestimating his enemies was never a good idea. That was the way Voldemort got defeated in the first place.

"What can Kreacher do for the ignoble master?" Kreacher interjected having sneaked up behind the two Gryffindors. "The... nice... blood traitor took out the thief. Oh how would Mistress be ashamed that the House of Black has come so low."

"Yes Kreacher, whatever," Harry groaned. The house elf and his incessant insults really annoyed Harry. "I have an order for you." He stared at the elf. "You will inspect Mundungus Fletcher for other stolen property. You will find the stuff he's stolen and reappropriate it for the House of Black. You won't communicate anything that happened within the House of Black and its associates to anybody unless I specifically order you to do so." Harry scratched his head, this shouldn't leave a loophole... except. "My friends are associates of the House of Black regardless of whether you agree with them or not."

"Yes Master," the elf said, torn between being angry over the order and thankful for the opportunity to punish the thief. "Kreacher will be most thorough with the examination of the thief." An evil grin played over Kreacher's face. "Master, may Kreacher wake the thief so he can... experience the investigation thoroughly."

"I don't want to be in Fletcher's skin right now," Ginny mumbled after Harry put a body bind on the thief. "Harry, don't let him kill Mundungus. That might be more trouble than it's worth."

Harry nodded. "You have a point." He glared at the house elf who'd just popped up with a knife from the kitchen. "Not so thoroughly that it leaves him permanently harmed or dead."

"Just a little cutting... nasty master must understand that the evil thief might smuggle something in his intestines."

"There are other... less intrusive ways to solve this problem," Harry said, smiling at the terrified thief. "Laxative is not as painful... I think. But it is also less deadly."

"Master is nasty!" Kreacher exclaimed almost respectfully.

Ginny poked Harry into the side. "Say, what are we going to do with him?"

"Give him to Fred and George as a test subject?" Harry shrugged. "I don't know, but I don't want to ever see him here again. No idea what he has already stolen."

The kitchen door opened and a surprised Ron looked at his best friend. "Harry what's going on? Why is Kreacher doing... that... to Mundungus? Why do you two have your wands out?"

Harry and Ginny explained what had transpired. Meanwhile Harry's unwilling house elf enjoyed himself by inspecting the thief. It somewhat reminded Harry of those alien abduction fantasies muggles sometimes had.

"Ugh... that's disgusting!" Ron shouted. "Why is he putting the spoon there?"

Harry couldn't suppress a chuckle. "I think he's searching for contraband. Man, I'm normally not this vengeful."

"He stole from Sirius. Hell, he was stealing from you," Ginny said mercilessly. "Merlin, you're hailed as the chosen one and he still steals from you. This stuff might be important."

"Silverware... a strange locket with a snake... a silver candleholder, I don't think so," Harry shook his head. "Kreacher, once you're done with him, put the stuff back wherever he took it."

The elf looked strangely happy about this, but then he'd served the House of Black for his life and probably liked the idea of that cockroach getting away with its thievery even less than Harry did.

"I really don't like this," Ron said. "They use your house for the stupid order meetings, don't let you in on what happens, yet they can't be bothered to prevent _that_ stealing from you."

Ron certainly wasn't the only one, Harry thought. He himself was sick of the damage this undesirable had on his swarm. The Black's had been a powerful family once, infamous for their dark magic. He didn't want to consider what Mundungus might have sold. Merlin, what might have already gotten into Voldemort's snakey hands.

{The Overmind should consider relying on the swarm for his security,} the hivemind interrupted Harry's train of thought. {Your current protections seem unreliable. The swarm can't understand your trust for Unit Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.}

Yes, the swarm didn't trust Dumbledore that much, Harry had realized already. His need for independence was new. The way the Minister had appeared with Percy of all people... well, Harry knew that if it wasn't for his newfound desire for independence, he might have told the Minister to go away. He could get Umbridge the legal way, but this was better. It was never wise to put all your money on a single hippogryph.

Nonetheless, Harry was a bit annoyed at the hivemind. {I'm quite aware of the problem,} Harry sent, leaking his annoyance through the mental link. {I can't rely on the swarm yet without

risking starting a war we'd very likely lose.}

He still had only one breeding ground within the outer Hogwarts wards. Maybe he could expand if the zergmantula found a way to replicate muggle repelling wards, yet those were plans for the future.

"Harry?" Ron said, poking his best friend in the side. "What should we do with him?" he pointed at the thief. "I think Kreacher is done with him."

Indeed, it looked like the elf had 'inspected' any orifice he could find. He'd also found a few things that Mundungus obviously didn't own. Well not in the orifices but in his clothing.

Harry shrugged. "I don't know. While I don't ever want to see him again, we might need information from him to recover whatever he has stolen." He glared at the thief. "I don't intend to let him get away with this shit, not anymore."

Mundungus was still lying on the ground half naked as Kreacher hadn't really bothered to dress the man again after his thorough inspection. Ginny was eying the man with a look of disgust, abusing hospitality like this was truly despicable. Meanwhile Kreacher had popped away, putting the stolen objects back where they belonged.

Suddenly the elf reappeared in front of Harry. "Nast... Master, may Kreacher interrogate the despicable thief? It would... improve Kreacher's chances to reappropriate mistress' property."

"What in Merlin's name are you doing?!" Mrs. Weasley yelled. The group hadn't seen her coming. "You can't just go and assault order members!"

{The Overmind should keep out of fights,} the hivemind suggested. {Your carapace is too thin. You scare the swarm.}

"Don't you have anything to say for yourself!" Mrs. Weasley shouted while both Ron and Ginny looked a little scared.

"I caught him thieving," Harry replied coldly. "Kreacher just inspected him for stolen property."

"But you can't just…" Mrs. Weasley interjected.

"No he can," Ron defended his best friend. "It's his house, Mundungus was here as a guest and he still stole from Harry. It's his inheritance!"

Ginny agreed. "Yes, Ron is right." She rolled her eyes. "The guy is a thief and it's Harry's bloody right to stop him!"

"But Dumbledore said Mundungus was…"

Harry could barely suppress a snarl. "I really hope Dumbledore didn't allow Mundungus to steal from me. If he wants a mercenary he can bloody well pay the thief himself." Harry grimaced. "The only reason he's in the order is probably to get into your houses. Who knows who his buyers are. For all we know he isn't just selling goods but also information!"

"Dumbledore would never..."

Ron laughed cynically. "Mom, Dumbledore trusted Pettigrew, Dumbledore threw Sirius into prison without bothering with a trial." He sighed. "I know we totally rely on Dumbledore, but assuming that the sun shines out of his arse..."

"Ronald!"

"What mom? Dumbledore is human, and he can make mistake. Merlin, he's totally overworked. Supreme Mugwump, Chief Warlock, Hogwarts Headmaster and leader of the Order of the Phoenix." Ron shook his head. "Look, Harry is right. Dumbledore is overworked, old and has already made fatal mistakes. Who knows if this," he pointed at Mundungus with his foot, "isn't another one."

"Ronald, mind your language or you'll end up in the gutter," Mrs. Weasley reprimanded her son, trying to reinstate her authority. "Follow your sister's example."

Ginny just sneered. "Mom the only way Ron will ever end up in the gutter is face down and dead. And this thief might be the reason. Merlin's hairy chest, Black Magic was named after the Blacks! Who knows what he already sold to Voldemort's followers."

"I didn't sell anything to the Death Eaters," Mundungus protested. Apparently the silencing spell had worn off.

"Well you might not, but who knows what your fence did," Harry replied. "But don't worry, we'll get all of the stuff back that you stole. I guess it'll ruin your reputation in the underworld, but that's really not my problem."

"But you can't! Dumbledore won't be happy."

"Like I care," Harry said. "Dumbledore is more interested in showing me movies than teaching me the skills necessary to survive. Dumbledore uses my house to host his meetings, yet he can't be bothered to police his members. **Silencio**!"

"Was this really necessary, Harry?" Mrs. Weasley asked silently. "Don't you trust Dumbledore at all?"

"Yes it was, Mrs. Weasley," Harry said, sighing. "I can't let him go. I can't really call the aurors. They're probably subverted by Voldemort anyway."

"You don't sound very optimistic about the war," Mrs. Weasley chided softly. "You know you can call me Molly."

"Okay... Molly. I'm not optimistic. Merlin, I have a prophecy that essentially says I have to kill him to prevent his dark reign. The man is so much better in magic than I am... He's an evil Hermione who had 70 years to prepare. The only way I found to kill him was to lure him into a trap and blow him up with muggle weapons. That's something he'd never expect. I hope." Or raid him with the swarm but that was nothing Harry would ever admit to someone he didn't really trust.

"Muggle weapons?" Molly raised her eyebrows. "You mean like swords or these gans... gun-things?"

"Like guns," Harry sighed. "Like a gigantic reducto or bombarda curse."

"Muggles can do explosions?" Ron asked confused. "Well, I guess they need to if the ministry can make up excuses for Death Eater attacks."

"And you wouldn't need a wand to trigger them," Ginny said, rubbing her nose thoughtfully. "Yes, I can see how that could surprise even Voldemort." She looked sad. "Tom didn't think much of Muggles at all." She was referring to the time when she'd been possessed by Voldemort's diary.

Molly Weasley shook her head. "I can't believe you're talking so calmly about killing someone, about killing a group of people."

"I wouldn't call Death Eaters people," Ron said. "They're just rabid dogs. I can't believe you allowed them to go free after the last war."

"Yeah, mom," Ginny supported her brother. "Why didn't you off Malfoy, Crabbe, Nott and their ilk once and for all. People have died already because you let them go free. Merlin, Voldemort got his whole old guard back with those he freed from Azkaban!"

"But we can't lower ourselves to their level," Mrs. Weasley protested, looking shocked at her children. "We couldn't just kill them."

"And why the hell not?" Harry groused. "If you'd killed maybe ten of those Death Eaters, 20, 30 more wizards and witches could be alive. I don't want to know how many Muggles they '_baited_' to death."

"What should we have done? Just raided their houses and killed them and their children to make sure their inbred insanity didn't spread?" Mrs. Weasley shouted. "Merlin, you were pissed about what happened to Sirius, but at least he was left alive. If we'd really just killed everyone who knows how many countless innocent people we would have slaughtered!"

"And how did Malfoy get away?" Harry asked more calmly. Maybe she really had a point. "Why didn't you… the ministry just use veritaserum to ask him."

"They did, Malfoy got a public trial and perfectly described the effects of the curse when he was asked about his crimes. He obviously faked his memories, but we couldn't prove it."

"And there had to be due process…," Harry said, thinking loudly. "Alright, I guess I can understand. Nonetheless, who cares if ten people under imperius die if we get Voldemort. To borrow Dumbledore's phrase, it's for the greater good."

"Mate, they certainly won't thank you," Ron said reluctantly. "I'm starting to understand why they're always using stunners. You just can't tell if the person wearing Voldemort's brand is really a minion or not."

"You can't win a war that way. And seriously, Voldemort isn't just a petty criminal mass murderer, he has a real insurgent army that he's using for terror attacks." He shook his head. "If we only fight with stunners, we'll lose. Voldemort can always imperio more, but there is only a limited number of us."

Mrs. Weasley raised her hands. "Alright, I can see where you are coming from, but you'd better discuss it with Dumbledore instead of me. I can't change anything about it anyway." She pointed at the thief. "You need to let him go though."

"No, I won't just allow him to leave," Harry decided. "Kreacher…"

There was a crack and the house elf stood before Harry, "What does the not-so-ignoble master desire?"

"Raid the thief's house and secure all things that belong to the House of Black," Harry ordered and reminded the elf: "The other instructions are still in place."

"Yes… not-so-ignoble Master, Kreacher will obey to… raid the evil thief's house… places," Kreacher said and popped away.

"I doubt there will be one stone standing when Kreacher is done," Ron laughed. "Did you see how he looked at Mundungus?"

"Yeah," Ginny grinned. "I think the elf has a new arch-enemy. You've been demoted to not-so-ignoble, Harry."

"Your budding friendship with the elf aside," Mrs. Weasley interjected. "We still need to deal with Mundungus."

Deal with him? Like feed him to the zergmantulas, to the zerglings?

{Overmind, the swarm prefers creep,} the hivemind reminded. {He would need to be processed first. The hivemind suggests to use him as a test-subject for human integration. The swarm longs to be really one with its Overmind.}

{A good idea,} Harry sent back. {Yet we can't do this right now. Should he somehow stumble into our territory please apprehend him.}

"Ouch!" Harry yelled, "Ron why did you poke me?"

"You spaced out again," Ron said, shooting a quick glance towards his mother.

Mrs. Weasley just shook her head. "I shouldn't tell you, but I guess I have no choice. You can banish Mundungus from your house. That way he won't be able to return here, unless he wants to risk the wrath of the Black's magics."

"That sounds acceptable," Harry said. "I just want that he'll never be able to steal from me again."

"I can sympathize," she said. "I'm sorry that I forgot about your point of view. I wouldn't want him around in your shoes either."

"So, mom, how can Harry do that?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah," Ron agreed. "But shouldn't we kick him out before. I mean we are in Black Mansion, who knows what the wards will do to him."

An evil smirk played over Harry's face as he glanced at Mundungus: "Well, maybe we should test it out, it could be important in the future...

"Haha, very funny, Harry," Mrs. Weasley said, shaking her head. "Just cut of a few hairs, kick him out of the house, come back in and say: '_I the heir of the House of Black banish Mundungus Fletcher from our property._' Then touch the hair with your wand. That should be enough."

Interesting that Mrs. Weasley knew something like that, Harry thought. Wasn't Mr. Weasley the patriarch of the family. Well, on the other hand it looked like she held the reigns in the Weasley family.

"Okay, let's kick him out," Harry said. "We've talked long enough. **Wingardium Leviosa**! Ron could you open the door please?"

"You need to remember cutting a few hairs," Ginny reminded and pulled scissors out of her handbag. "Wait a second and I'll cut them off."

And so she did. Afterwards, Harry quickly sent the thief out of the door and canceled the immobilisation charms. Then he was finally ready.

"Okay, Harry, take the hairs from Ginny and repeat what I say," Mrs. Weasley said and Ginny gave her friend the lock of Mundungus' dirty hair.

"I, the heir of the House of Black..."

"**I, the heir of the House of Black,..."**

"...banish Mundungus Fletcher from our property."

"...**banish Mundugus Fletcher from our property. So mote it be, so mote it be, so mote it be!" **Harry shouted and touched the lock. It was consumed in killing curse green flames and a gong sounded throughout the house. "It is done," Harry proclaimed. "He won't be able to return."

"These were auld magics," Molly Weasley said. "I didn't think... well, I should have expected. This is the House of Black after all."

**AN****: Sorry for the delay. I got a bit writers block and editing laziness at the same time… My problem was that I realized I essentially wrote two stories at once. I began with writing about the swarm and then switched to a "Harry Potter is actually thinking for himself - from a non-US-POV" story. I considered rewriting but decided that was pointless. I simply don't have the motivation for that right now. I'll rather finish this story and see how I can improve it afterwards. The main reason for this delay was my fight with several plotbunnies. They just pop up and won't be stopped... Maybe I should make a plotbunny thread of my own ;)  
**

** Nonetheless I hope this chapter gave you an impression for what is about to come. Thank you for reading this story. Special thanks to all of you who wrote reviews. **


	17. Chapter 18

**Chapter Published: **04.05.2013

* * *

_Disclaimer:__ Elements of this story are copyrighted by other parties. My wallet complains, but I own neither StarCraft nor the Harry Potter franchise__. _

_If you thought I did, I'd love to know where you got that idea. Everything not owned by J. K. Rowling and Blizzard Entertainment (or whatever their name is right now) is owned by me._

_Thanks to Richard for betaing this story._

XXXHPASXXX

**Part 18**:

The reports from the overlords were worrisome, Harry thought. Last night a few centaurs had snuck onto the creep, probed it and even took some of it with them, back to the herd. The centaurs were powerful, they had magic of their own even if they didn't do much else than gazing at the stars. Nonetheless, they managed to keep the acromantula away which was by no means a small feat. If they could prevent the giant spiders from attacking, Harry didn't want to know what they could do to his swarm. Yet he didn't want to tip his hand right now they only knew the creep, not the real swarm.

On the other hand, the hivemind brought positive news: {Overmind, the evolution chambers are done. The swarm has found a way to increase its energy production.}

Yes, finally! Harry thought gleefully. Now he could finally increase the numbers of evolution chambers and accelerate the development of the swarm. Merlin, maybe he could even attempt a few of his assimilation ideas. A small raid on the greenhouses should give the swarm ample new ideas to improve his base defense. The deep creepers were nice, but they couldn't delay a larger force. Their main purpose was spreading the creep anyway. No, he needed something better. He also needed a way to escape the detection of the muggles, but that was something he should discuss with Ron and Hermione.

{This is good to know, but how did you do it?} the young Overmind inquired.

{We combined the usual energy production of the swarm with a process that was derived from this world's photosynthesis. The modified creep has a lower nutritional value, but its energy production is increased by 69%.}

While he needed the increase in energy, the lowered nutritional value didn't sound good at all. That meant he would have to stop his swarm's expansion or at least slow it. He couldn't produce more Zerg than he could feed and he also didn't want to outright attack Hagrid's favourite pet monsters. Or even worse the centaurs. They were notorious stargazers, but then they were also magical creatures. Who knew what strange magics they might possess? No, as long as he could find unused territory, he'd expand his swarm there.

{You know where the wards of Hogwards are?} Harry inquired.

{Yes, we have already expanded towards the borders.}

That wasn't good at all, Harry thought. But then… {Did the Zerglings passing out of the wards activate them?}

{The overlords detected some kind of reaction, but nothing happened.}

{They probably saw it as a fluke,} Harry sent. {I doubt we'll get away with it if the wards activate regularly.} Even if Dumbledore was absent, he wouldn't miss major traffic through the wards. His Zerg weren't good enough at hiding yet. Merlin, without the acromantula's replication of notice-me-not charms his base would be out in the open.

{We do as you wish, Overmind.}

{Yes, thank you, } Harry replied absently. {Stop the production of Zerglings and Acrolisks. Instead build three new evolution chambers. And try to research some way to tunnel next.}

The hivemind acknowledged and Harry left Ron's room, going down for breakfast.

"Good morning, Harry," Remus greeted him. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah I guess I did," Harry said, looking at his father's last living friend. "You don't look so good though."

"Full moon is coming," Harry's old Professor sighed. "I'll have to leave tomorrow."

"I'm sorry," Harry said, but Remus only shrugged.

{Overmind, may I interrupt?} Adalbert sent, surprising Harry.

{Yes... what do you want?}

{Overmind, on my quest for improvement of the swarm I searched your memories for interesting specimens for integration.} Harry's favourite Overlord explained. {While the wizard transfiguration is too complicated an effect to replicate with our current capabilities, the way werewolves transform indicates a more primitive form of psionic transformation. We would like to study such a specimen to improve our mutations.}

"Um... Harry, what's up?" Remus inquired, looking at his former student. He didn't understand why Harry had suddenly stopped moving.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about something," Harry said, sitting down at the table. "It's kinda important, so wait a moment please."

Returning his focus to the Overlord, Harry sent: {You won't get Remus though. Once we start moving against Voldemort, we should be able to catch a few. Is there something else?}

{Yes, Overmind.} Adalbert sent. {There is the Basilisk.}

Harry shuddered just thinking about the monster. Yes, something like this in his swarm and even Voldemort would think twice before attacking. It's rather hard to aim if one can't look at one's target. Only Nundus were known to be deadlier than the King of Snakes.

{You also want to improve our point defenses. Please allow us to raid the greenhouses in the night.} Adalbert requested. {I'll send one overlord to control each drone or Zergling. Nobody will see us and nobody will die.}

Considering the amount of Zerglings he had bred the first wasn't really that much a concern. Hagrid had found the creep anyway and it was only a matter of time until others searched the Forbidden Forest for the newcomers.

Thinking about it. {Can you expand the creep further to the border of the forest?} Harry requested. {The creep has been found anyway so it's not like secrecy is that important anymore. Try to avoid allowing the Zerg to be seen.}

{Your will shall be executed,} Adalbert stated. {We will proceed with the greenhouse operation.}

Great, Harry was a good thing he was finished because Ron came down moments later and Harry was caught in the Weasley family life. Molly Weasley was nervous, Hermione and her parents were coming this day. Meanwhile both Harry and Ron did their very best to keep out of her way. The Weasley matriarch had gotten better about her comments after Ron's little bout of temper, but if she was stressed out she still reverted to "encouraging" Ron to work by bombarding him with disparaging comments.

Mrs. Weasley used to be the perfect mother in Harry's mind, yet now he had to realize that he'd idealised the woman. Sure, she wasn't really a bad mother either, she was a human being and had some weaknesses. One of those obviously was how she dealt with Ron. It certainly explained a few things about his best friend, Harry thought sadly. The fact the twins behaved like total assholes also didn't help and stuffy Percy wasn't exactly a role model either.

Considering these issues Harry was very glad when he finally heard the sound of a car driving across the front yard.

"What's this noise?" Ron asked, scratching his head.

"Hermione is here," Harry stated, hurrying to the door. "She wanted to come by car as you should remember."

"Ah, yes...," Ron said tight-lipped.

Meanwhile Mr. Weasley grinned like he'd won the lottery: "I can't wait to see a real working car... Mine only did after I enchanted it."

Something like that could happen if one got their car from the scrapyard, Harry though, repressing the need to roll his eyes. He went out first, the rest of the Weasleys and Remus Lupin were following him.

And there she was. Hermione stood in front of an expensive looking Mercedes and talked to her parents. They seemed somewhat spooked. Considering the look of the Burrow that was only understandable, Harry had to admit to himself. The building shouldn't be possible using normal physics. On the other hand, normal physics didn't explain magic either.

"God, it's not as unstable as it looks," Hermione cussed, confirming Harry's assumption.

"Hi Hermione," Harry shouted, quickly walking towards her.

He was happily waving his female best friend, when he startled everyone around him. One moment he was closing up with Hermione, the next he stopped moving. Harry though was concerned with other things.

{Overmind, units looking like Deatheaters have arrived at unit Luna-Lovegood's base,} the hivemind said, which was what stopped Harry in his tracks.

Fuck! Harry thought. How did they always manage to find the worst time to appear? It would raise awkward questions that much was sure, but Hermione had to wait, he had to safe his girlfriend. Focussing on the nearest pack of zerglings, Harry slipped into the mind of one of them. A highly detailed view opened before him. Ten people in black robes shot blasts from their wands at a barrier around a rather strange looking house, which just collapsed as Harry joined with his creature.

{Go! Kill them!} Harry broadcasted to the four other zerglings around him and began to launch himself towards the odd looking building.

They were too far away. Even with the mindboggling spell he and the other Zerglings ran, Harry couldn't reach them before they entered. The only option was to try and distract them, but that wasn't really a good idea. The Zerglings were fast, but as far as he knew they didn't have resistance against magic. One hit with a stupor and one of his Zerglings might be down.

Accordingly Harry decided not to alarm them. While the power of his body felt awesome to the young Overmind, he knew this would need finesse and subtlety instead of brute force. All the force of his body was useless against the might of the killing curse. If he could strike before they knew what was going on, they could win. Otherwise this would be a battle.

"**Bombarda****!**" Harry heard one of the Death Eaters yell and the door exploded in front of them.

Meanwhile Harry and his pack were running over the meadow towards the rook-like house.

{Overmind! The hive has detected contact on the creep!"} The hivemind suddenly alerted Harry.

Why the hell right now? Harry thought desperately as he continued his way to his targets. He needed to focus on the Death Eaters, he just had no time for the other crap.

{Have Losagog or Adalbert stall them!} Harry ordered absently as he got the mental image of a centaur. It was only fifty meters... 30... 20...

"**Protego**!" Luna shouted from somewhere inside.

10... "**Crucio**!" A female voice yelled, but thankfully no pained cry followed.

They were at the door. "Dance whore, dance!" the female voice laughed gleefully. "**Crucio**!"

"**Stupor**!" Luna yelled, just as Harry entered into the house.

There was one of the bastards, the black cloak was moving as he raised his wand-arm for something. Harry couldn't let this happen.

"Inc..." was the only thing the man managed to say before Harry separated the man's head with his right-hand scythe.

{Kill every Death Eater,} Harry mentally sent to his zerglings as he ran up the stairs, looking for Luna. Whatever happened on the ground floor, Harry didn't care. The Death Eaters wouldn't get away in close quarters. Zerglings were just too quick.

There, just in front of him, was one of those bastards. Harry jumped, striking with both of his scythe arms, penetrating the bastard's back and collapsing his lung. There were more though. Two other bastards were around and he heard another "**Crucio**!" from upstairs.

Luna was crying out in pain. Fuck, Harry thought and decided to ignore the deathmunchers on his floor. With a jump he went past them and up the next set of stairs. Flying through the door, Harry could see five people. Luna was under the evil red beam of the Crucio-curse while her father lay in a corner, unmoving. The two other dark robed bastards were laughing.

{Overmind, what are we supposed to do?} Adalbert mentally sent Harry, yet the young Overmind had no time.

The Death Eaters were still laughing. But not much longer. With a roar Harry jumped on the bastard next to him, eviscerating the man with his scythes.

"Fuck!" The woman shouted, interrupting her Crucio. "**Ava...**"

She was targeting Luna, Harry realized horrified. "**...da...**" he couldn't allow this to happen. Pulling his scythes out of the corpse, Harry crouched to jump. "**...Ke...**" The spell needed to be stopped. He should have gone for her first. Fuck, now she was too far away. Harry had no choice. He jumped. "...davra!" into the beam. Hopefully his scythes combined with his momentum would be enough to finish...

A green flash and everything went black for Harry.

The next moment he woke up in a strange place. It certainly wasn't like he'd expected death to be, but then he'd never really thought about it anyway. Something was pretty obvious though. His real body shouldn't have died, so maybe he could return to the living. Standing up he found himself in the center of a web, hovering over an abyss. A thousand white glowing strings went to the walls of the chasm, holding him aloft. They all looked the same, with two notable exceptions.

One of the strings was black, blacker than the deepest night and gave him a really bad feeling. Harry instinctively knew this was his connection to Voldemort and something he absolutely didn't want to follow right now. The other one was a string that was broader and glowing brighter than the rest. Suddenly Harry saw one of the minor strings snap, and then another… and another. They rolled themselves up and hovered as some kind of willow wisp over the net. He knew he couldn't stay here anymore. Something was wrong with the swarm. Bowing forward, Harry touched the bright string and…

Woke up on the ground looking up at a very worried Hermione.

"Why did he suddenly collapse?" She shouted, asking nobody specific. "What happened to Harry?"

{Overmind, Overmind!} The hivemind was yelling, intruding into my mind. {The Centaurs are attacking.}

"Sod it!" Harry shouted, trying to sit up. Then he focusedon his hive. {What happened to Luna, why didn't you stall the centaurs?}

"He's fazed out again," Harry heard Hermione say, but right now he'd bigger issues.

There was something he had to say though: "Luna was attacked!"

{Overmind, the Death Eaters are dead,} Adalbert sent. {But now the centaurs are attacking. They didn't accept this was our breeding ground. What are we supposed to do, we're not supposed to fight with sentients.}

{Capture them for God's sake!} Harry sent and felt like yelling again. Were they really that stupid?

{That's what I thought,} Harry's first overlord said mentally. {We figured losing Zerglings was acceptable.}

Okay that didn't sound so bad, Harry had to admit to himself. Yet he needed to focus on what was going on. Luna was really save and the zerglings were dragging the carcass of 'his' zergling away. Apparently one of the Overlords had used its brain. Now his hive was in danger though. It was more important right now.

Centaur arrows were flying towards his zerglings. The centaurs were true beasts, shooting with some strange sort of bow at Harry's zerg. He didn't know how strong they were, but it had to be more than a standard human, considering their rate of fire. And the were effective, too effective for Harry's liking. Their arrows managed to kill more than just a few zerglings - they exploded for some reason when they hit. Almost fifty corpses were lying on the battlefield in front of the hive's walls. Whenever a centaur arrow hit, a zergling died. Thankfully they were moving fast and the manhorses didn't hit every time.

Harry didn't really want to kill them, but he couldn't let them continue either. {What in Merlin's name has happened here?} he sent to Losagog. The acromantula should understand most about diplomacy of all of them.

{They wanted us to leave… according to them we have no right to the forest.} Losagog explained. {They once did the same to the acromantula colony.}

{I gather they had no success,} Harry sent back, while he directed his acrolisks to surround the centaurs.

What could his distance fighter acrolisk do anyway, Harry wondered. He'd quickly checked it when he'd developed them, but they felt a bit too expensive. Regretfully he had only built a few. Harry didn't have more than 20 of them.

/Acrolisk:

/Function: Distance fighter

/Attack: 12

/Cooldown: 0.83

/Range: 500 meters

/Specialty: Zerg Poison, Acromantula Poison, Narcotic shot.

Hopefully the narcotic shot wouldn't be deadly, Harry thought. He really didn't want to kill the centaurs. While they were priggish assholes, Firenze had saved his life after all. They couldn't be allowed to endanger the swarm though. Meanwhile 200 of the horsemen were left. It looked like they'd attacked with full force, really trying to wipe him out.

Finally the acrolisks were in place. A mental command later and all twenty giant spiders fired their spines, aiming so they wouldn't kill. Harry wasn't quite sure how much of the narcotic he was supposed to use, but he figured it was better to be safe than sorry. He only had them use a small dosage.

The spines flew, hit, but the centaurs didn't collapse as planned. They slowed, held their sides, but weren't taken out. Harry knew the narcotic was supposed to work instantaneous, so he'd obviously not taken enough. Meanwhile Harry also ordered the Zerglings to press the attack instead of just being a distraction. He didn't understand what the centaurs were thinking. If he'd ordered the little monsters to kill, they'd been eradicated within seconds and would leave their women and children without defense. Wherever those were. The overlords had never found them on their surveillance flights.

Well, now that they'd attacked, it was too late for talking. The second Volley had taken 20 of the centaurs out and only after the third volley they really started to react. At the same time the Zerglings were running towards the centaurs in a wave. The horsemen had maneuvered themselves into a killing field. While it must have seemed smart to them to stay under cover of the woods, it was anything but. The acrolisks could snipe them from the treetops, while the Overlords outlined their position for the swarm. There was no hiding from the large creatures' superior sensory organs.

It seemed like the centaurs also realized this. One of them shouted something and they turned as a man and fled. A smart decision, Harry thought, but already too late for half of their herd. The centaurs were quick, quicker than they should have been, and amazingly also quicker than the Zerglings. It was curious, but then it probably was another reason they were called magical creatures. Just being stargazing manhorses wouldn't have cut it.

{Can we still get them?} Harry sent towards the swarm, the hunting instinct had gripped his whole being.

{They're fast Overmind,} Adalbert replied. {This way they'll outrun the zerglings and reach the border of the wards within a minute.}

{Crap!} Harry cussed. {Secure the fallen centaurs and try to integrate them into the swarm. Make sure they don't die like the spiders.}

If anything, Harry owed Firenze as much to not wipe out his species. The others got away, but so what. They didn't trust the ministry, they were hostile towards Dumbledore and Voldemort wanted to wipe them out. They'd literally nowhere to go but to run away. He could only hope he'd never maneuver himself into such a position.

A mental command later, the zerglings broke off their pursuit. He didn't get them all, but at least he could quit his nonexpansive stance now. The centaurs had run away that meant their grounds were free for expansion, Harry figured. These were large parts of the forest, way larger than what he already had.

{Hivemind, create two Hatcheries. Here and here,}Harry send, marking the places on his mental map. {The new Hatcheries have priority over normal production. Oh... and make them a fast morph.}

{We are tools of your will,} the Hivemind acknowledged his command.

There was something Harry still needed to know though. {Adalbert, what happened with Luna?}

{Unit 'Luna Lovegood' and unit 'Luna's daddy' are safe. As far as we can tell they have not suffered permanent harm. We killed all the Death Eaters, but when we retreated reinforcements arrived.}

Merlin's bollocks! Harry cussed in his thoughts. {Who was it? Death Eaters?}

{The reinforcements were recognized from your memories as members of the Order of Phoenix,} Adalbert explained. {Unit Tonks, unit Remus Lupin, unit Arthur Weasley were appearing first. Unit Albus Dumbledore and unit Severus Snape followed next. They probably saw our zerglings retreat. We had a target conflict between saving our zerglings, keeping the swarm secret and not hurting sapients. We concluded that since you didn't want them eliminated retreat was our best option.}

Crap, crap, crap! Harry thought angrily. This totally didn't go like planned. He shouldn't have said anything... the support had been unnecessary. His zerglings had proved to be enough. Still, it was better to be safe than sorry, now he just had to deal with the fallout. Maybe he could just deny all involvement...

Harry's train of thought was stopped when a wave of vertigo overcame him. What the hell was going on. Opening his eyes, Harry refocused on his real surroundings.

"... suddenly collapsed after warning about the attack on Luna Lovegood," Molly Weasley told Mrs. Pomfrey. Exasperation was in her voice. "Ron and Hermione said this happened before, so it wasn't a big problem... He just collapsed! Merlin, how can this not be a problem?!"

He was in Hogwarts hospital wing, Harry realized. The feeling of vertigo must have been a portkey. The only question was how Molly Weasley got it in the first place. That was a question for another time though, right now he had a bigger problem.

Quickly raising up from the hospital bed, Harry protested: "I am alright. Ouch... okay, my back kind of hurts. But I'm alright." He shook his head. "Anyway, what happened to Luna?"

"I don't know," Mrs. Weasley said. "Arthur and Remus went there, Tonks followed them."

So the news about the Zerglings wasn't out yet. Maybe he could manage to spin a convincing story... His head hurt, but he had no real choice. Well, if he didn't want to out the swarm even worse than he did anyway. Now Voldemort would know something was up. Even if Snape didn't tell the bastard about the Zerglings, Voldemort would be suspicious about the loss of his team.

"Voldemort was gleeful about his attack... and I think he held me there." Harry said. "I think I managed to warn you..." Mrs. Weasley nodded and Harry continued: "Well, after some time Voldemort got worried and then got really angry. I guess that was when the Order stopped his goons."

"What happened after you woke up for a few moments?" Mrs. Weasley asked, looking worried. "You said something and passed out again."

"Voldemort threw a tantrum," Harry said, adding another lie. Maybe it was true though. Something like that was what the megalomaniac would do. "Um... can you tell me what happened to Luna? I just need to know!" Further lies, but it would be strange if he didn't ask.

"I'm sure she'll be fine," Madam Pomfrey said, holding a cup with a steaming potion as she pushed him back down on the bed. "Here, have this Mr. Potter."

"Okay," Harry said, eyeing the cup suspiciously.

Madam Pomfrey wouldn't poison him, Harry chided himself and quickly drank it down. "What waas th... this?" Harry managed to ask before a sudden wave of tiredness overwhelmed him and he passed out on his bed.

#tbc

**Author's Note****: Sorry for another delay, but I got even more plotbunnies. I was a bit annoyed with the HP/Stargate crossovers as they seem to be nothing but author avatar wank. At least the most popular that is. I wrote a beginning that didn't have Harry as the awesome Alterran with the Goa'uld genetic memory *cough* and decided I actually liked it. **

**Nonetheless I added a few paragraphs to this story. Next chapter will have the consequences of this events as well as a bit progress of the swarm. The chapter after will deal with further implications.**

**You might also want to check my little story Haremgirl. It deals with the possible implications of Harry getting rich and powerful and a harem on top of it…**

**Thank you for reading this story and all your reviews. I hope you liked it so far.**


	18. Chapter 19

_Disclaimer:__ Elements of this story are copyrighted by other parties. My wallet complains, but I own neither StarCraft nor the Harry Potter franchise. _

_If you thought I did, I'd love to know where you got that idea. Everything not owned by J. K. Rowling and Blizzard Entertainment (or whatever their name is right now) is owned by me._

_Thanks to Richard for betaing this story._

_**AN: No this story isn't dead ;)**_

XXXHPASXXX

**Part 19:**

When Harry woke up the next morning he was pissed. He'd needed to give the swarm new instructions, wanted to actually meet the Grangers, but no… Madam Pomfrey had taken him out for the day and night. Thankfully the swarm had understood his intentions and begun to expand into the old centaur grounds. He wouldn't be able to keep the swarm a secret much longer after all. While Voldemort probably didn't know who was behind the deaths of his execution squad he should be suspicious.

Groaning Harry forced himself up. He hated those potions, they always made him feel unnaturally drowsy afterwards. A few nightmares wouldn't hurt him. But at least the swarm had managed to finish one of his projects. Apparently one evolution chamber had combined some stored swarm DNA with the DNA of the earthworm, the niffler and the acromantula. This created a being that could tunnel through earth and maybe rock and left chitinous flesh behind that supported the created tunnel. The result reminded Harry of the Tube in London.

/Tubeworm

/Function: Creates Tunnels through the ground that are sustained by a special sort of creep.

/Size: Tunnel, sewer, wire

/Hitpoints: 20

/Armor: 0

/Damage: 0

"Ah… Harry, my boy," a wholly unwanted voice greeted Harry from behind. "I'm glad you're awake… maybe you can tell us a bit more about Miss. Lovegood's mysterious rescue."

Great, Dumbledore. And the man wanted to know about things Harry didn't want to talk about. Couldn't he just go back to his Voldemort pensieve-movies and leave him alone?

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked, lying through his teeth. "Luna is safe? Thank Merlin."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, but Harry could tell that the old headmaster wasn't buying it. "Voldemort seems... enraged about something, as I could tell from Severus' crucio damage..."

Snape had been crucioed? Good for the nasty git, Harry thought. If Voldemort felt like doing him a favour, Harry wouldn't complain. Maybe next time he could even use Avada Kedavra... Okay, maybe he was a bit nasty, Harry figured, but then it was Snape he was thinking about.

{This mercy thing of humanity is interesting,} Losagog, Harry's first zergmantula interjected in his thoughts. {It shouldn't apply to irredeemable enemies of the swarm though.} Someone as vengeful and needlessly cruel as the hated potions teacher didn't deserve to be integrated into the swarm, the assimilated acromantula thought.

Harry wasn't so sure about that. He'd integrated nasty monsters like the acromantula too. He'd bigger problems right now though. He tried to ignore the Zergmantula and concentrated on the headmaster. "He did seem enraged for some reason, but I couldn't tell you why," Harry replied, hoping the headmaster would drop the topic.

*Crack*

A portkey arrived right into the center of the room. Luna and Professor McGonagall appeared in a swirl of colours, interrupting Dumbledore to Harry's relief.

"Ouch, my ass!" Luna complained, picking herself up from the floor.

"Miss. Lovegood!" Harry's house teacher admonished. "Mind your language."

Luna shrugged. "What? First they keep me on that chair for hours and now I fall on my tortured behind," she yawned. "I think I deserve a little cussing."

Thank goodness Luna was alright, Harry thought relieved. But why did she arrive via Portkey and why now? Something wasn't right here. Her red eyes were red as if she hadn't slept the whole night.

*yawn* Yes, she probably hadn't. "Luna, what happened?" Harry asked worried, did something else happen to his girlfriend?

"Oh, Harry, you're here?" Luna smiled at him. "I didn't see you. Did you know Death Eaters attacked my home yesterday?"

The young Overmind slowly nodded: "Yes, I got a vision courtesy of Voldemort. I tried to help... alart the Weasleys. Did they arrive fast enough to save your father?"

Luna eagerly bobbed her head up and down. "My friends, the scythe horned snorkacks, arrived and killed the Death Eaters. They're normally quite cuddly but they didn't like how the Death Eaters wanted to hurt us." A tear ran down her cheek. "One actually sacrificed itself for me. Why did Blumpy do that?"

Harry shrugged. He had jumped into the Avada Kedavra to save her, but that wasn't anything he could admit. Obviously.

"Maybe he loved you," Harry suggested. "Or he didn't know the Avada Kedavra was deadly."

"I didn't think snorkacks could have wrackspurts," Luna sniffed. "But now he's gone… for me."

No he wasn't. But Dumbledore, Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall were still around so he couldn't say that.

Thinking about the devil apparently made him speak to you, as Dumbledore raised his voice: "My boy, do you know these scythe horned snorkacks?"

Harry quickly shook his head. This was an easy question to deflect. "No, Luna only mentioned the crumple horned variant before."

Dumbledore didn't seem satisfied with this answer, but Harry couldn't care less. If Dumbledore wanted his cooperation he should begin to help him. It had been over two months since their last meeting and Dumbledore still hadn't bothered with teaching him anything new. Did the man actually want him dead? Harry doubted it, but still, he was supposed to be the chosen one of prophecy and yet the Headmaster didn't do anything to help him. Did the old man actually expect him to love Voldemort to death? He wasn't a man-lover and he certainly wasn't a lover of disgusting homicidal snake human hybrids.

"Luna where were you?" Harry asked, ignoring the headmaster for now. "What happened after the attack. After someone…" Harry shot a glare at the nurse, "helped me to sleep." Seriously, if he'd wanted to sleep he'd have said so!

"Aurors came and took me to the ministry," Luna explained, coming over and sitting down right next to her boyfriend. "They asked me why I murdered several reputable citizens,"

Reputable citizens? "They arrested you because something killed the Death Eaters that attacked you?" Harry said horrified. He thought he had an understanding with Scrimgeour. Arresting his girlfriend certainly wasn't part of it.

"Umbridge said something about having a kissing session with Dementors," Luna replied in her bubbly voice, but Harry could feel her shake next to him. "Then Scrimgeour arrived with a few Aurors and arrested Umbridge."

"Thank goodness," Harry sighed. Maybe his little negotiation was actually worth something.

"That woman tried to have you kissed?!" Madam Pomfrey groused. "Albus, you should have left her with the centaurs. Some people you just can't forgive."

Yes... she'd be dead if Professor Dumbledore hadn't rescued her, Harry thought, shooting the old man a nasty glare.

"Alas you never know," the headmaster sighed. "She might also have saved the world." He gave Harry a meaningful look. "Killing is an all-too permanent solution for a temporary problem."

"Professor," Luna interjected. "You need to wash your feet more frequently so that the grime can slide down from your head. This way you can avoid further Wrackspurt infestations."

"What do you mean, Miss. Lovegood?" Professor McGonagall asked sternly. She wouldn't tolerate cheekiness towards superiors. Discipline had to be preserved after all.

"Professor Dumbledore quoted a saying for suicidal people," Luna explained. "Umbridge and her Death Eater friends aren't suicidal, they're homicidal."

Dumbledore probably knew that, Harry thought. It was all too much in character for him though. Seriously, how many chances could you give someone like Malfoy? The man was finally in prison, after his murders in the first war, the diary incident and all the other shit he pulled since Voldemort's fall. No wonder that Scrimgeour wanted Harry for moral support. The minister would probably need to stage a coup to really change anything in the wizarding world at all.

"This is true Miss Lovegood," Dumbledore admitted with a sigh, "but alas one needs to consider the long term implications. Someone dead will never be able to repent. It is never too late for people to see the light."

It probably wasn't, Harry had to agree. "That may be right Professor," Harry interjected. "But it doesn't change the fact that each Death Eater is a mass murderer. Every day they run around freely, an innocent person dies. They're making war against us. A war means people die. I don't see a reason to spare them. That's just ridiculous."

Considering the shocked looks from both McGonagall and Dumbledore he probably shouldn't have been so open about it. Well, there was no way to change it now.

"My boy, are you serious?" the headmaster inquired with a clearly worried voice.

There was no point in denying it. "Yes, I am. Voldemort may have found a way to defy death, but he alone is but a man. He might be a monster, but alone he can't stand against a society. Take away his minions and his plan crumbles." There was more about it, something he'd learned from Ron. "Better yet manage to divide them like they divide us. A divided force can't fight. They probably don't all need to die, but when the successes stop happening Voldemort's support will also wane. That way less people die."

McGonagall exchanged a worried glance with Dumbledore. "Mr. Potter, this sounds quite... radical."

Maybe it was. Harry shrugged. "I'm sick of watching my classmates and their families die. I'm sick of hiding with my relatives when others fight. I'm sick of losing my family, when they just get away with it. Your solution obviously doesn't work. Always staying on the defensive will only make you lose." Harry shook his head. "That's what you did so far, right? I didn't hear anything about dead Notts, dead Averies or caught McNairs." Crap, maybe he revealed too much. "Whoever... or whatever did that to the people attacking Luna deserves my praise. They did well."

"They killed eight Imperiused people in Death Eater Robes, one newly marked Death Eater and a woman who we'd never suspected but who might be a member of Voldemort's Inner Circle," Dumbledore calmly stated and added as an afterthought, "That was the woman who tortured you Miss Lovegood."

Seriously? No... Harry slumped down on his bed. This was horrible! They hadn't been Death Eaters, just normal people... other victims of the Death Eaters. And he'd killed them.

{It's the Death Eaters' fault, not yours, Overmind,} Adalbert the Overlord mentally sent. He'd sensed the distress of his master. {People die in the war. Bring them into the Swarm and they will join us in Immortality.}

That would be a solution, Harry thought. {but that only works if they don't die during the integration. I still killed eight people... who didn't deserve it.}

The Overlord mentally shrugged - that was the feeling Harry got - and sent back: {This is bad luck. Collateral damage happens. Right now we can't do anything about it...}

"And I thought he had become nihilistic, Albus," Professor McGonagall said.

"He is sitting in front of you, Professor," Luna helpfully told her teacher.

"I don't care about mass murderers' lives," Harry corrected. "If you can get them alive that's fine with me, but we can't win the war if that's our main goal... I'm repeating myself, aren't I?"

Luna just nodded, while Dumbledore looked very worried. The old man sighed. "I can understand why you feel this way." Dumbledore sighed again. "I really can. I was there myself once, but you need to understand you can't do that or you'll become like your enemy."

Dumbledore talked as if he was speaking from experience, Harry realized shocked. But then he should have expected it. The old man really did lead the war against Grindelwald after all. He probably had to make some unfortunate decisions. And there was the rumor he'd been friends or maybe lovers with that Dark Lord before.

"Did that happen to you?" Harry asked before he could stop himself. "Um... forget it."

The old headmaster shook his head. "No, you're right to ask. Better you learn about it from me than from someone else." He sighed. "As a young man I became best friends with Gellert... Grindelwald. We made great plans to revolutionize the world, make lives better for everyone," Dumbledore said with a rough voice. Harry could see it hurt the old man to recall. "Of course we would decide for the muggles, because as Wizards we knew better. We had insights into worlds of knowledge they couldn't even fathom. Surely there would be some resistance but it would be for the greater good of all."

He shook his head again. "I think that was the point where I started to doubt him. What right did we have to force people to our beliefs? Just because we can do what others can't do, do we have the right to rule over them?"

"I don't think so," Harry said, even though it was only a rhetorical question.

"I didn't either, my boy," Dumbledore nodded. "I tried to dissuade Gellert from his plan, but we only started to argue. Alberfort got involved too... he thought we both were megalomaniacs... he probably was right. In the end we got into a fight..." Dumbledore sniffed. "And Arianna... my sister... she was dead."

"And love turned into hate..." Luna whispered.

"Yes, it did," the old headmaster agreed, raising his blackened hand to move his hair aside. "Our friendship was more than over. Aberforth left me, blamed me for our sister's death. Rightfully so... if I hadn't... alas that's the burden of time. One can only regret one's past mistakes, never change them."

{Unit Albus Brian Wulfric Dumbledore is dominated by emotion regret,} the Hivemind suddenly chirped in. {His reluctance to kill might stem from all to permanent mistakes made with deadly spells.}

Yeah that was all too likely, Harry had to agree.

Meanwhile Dumbledore continued his story: "Well, Gellert went over to Europe, paired up with the German dictator and started to breed a new master race or something. I guess he had some success, considering the great amount of German muggleborns nowadays. Anyways, I digress. Gellert was in Europe and I was seeking revenge... Aberforth had left me. I... called for help and Fawkes listened. He wasn't what I'd expected or wanted, but he was what I needed. Merlin only knows what would have happened if I'd followed that path..."

So that was when Dumbledore had used the familiar ritual, Harry realized. He called for help and Fawkes had come to help him, instead of the weapon he wanted to slay Grindelwald. "Was Fawkes the reason why you were so reluctant to join the war effort against Grindelwald?" Harry couldn't help himself to ask.

"Yes," the old headmaster agreed with a slight smile. "He wouldn't let me until I was ready not to kill Gellert given the opportunity."

"And tens of thousands of people died instead," Harry replied. That kind of Pacifism was just insane.

"I didn't know Phoenixes carried Wrackspurts," Luna added. "Professor, there has to be a better solution than allowing them to slaughter us."

"How many more would have died if I'd simply taken over after Gellerts fall?" Dumbledore sighed. "I certainly had the support... Anyways, we need to get to Voldemort, he's what they all depend on," the old headmaster said, changing the topic. "Harry, I would be grateful if you could join me in a private lesson next weekend."

"So all this..." Harry made an undefined motion with his hands, "...stuff was about a way to take out Voldemort?" So it really had a purpose.

"Yes, my boy," Dumbledore quickly agreed. "But we shouldn't talk about this here."

Right, like the walls had ears or something, Harry thought cynically. The old man felt like he needed to keep everything secret again, but Harry really didn't want to confront him right now. Instead he simply nodded.

"Well, there is something else I need to talk to you about..." Dumbledore drew his eyes together. "Why did you banish Mundungus Fletcher from the Order's Headquarter?"

Was he really serious? Harry thought. "Didn't Mundungus tell you?" Harry said, trying to keep his calm. "I caught the rat trying to steal from me. That is not acceptable."

Dumbledore didn't get all his political positions by being a dunce. In his years of experience he'd learned when to simply accept something as a given. So he just nodded. "Very well, I understand. I will _speak _with Mr. Fletcher about his behavior."

So Dumbledore hadn't considered stealing from him as a payment to Fletcher. Thank goodness, Harry thought. Maybe he'd gotten a bit paranoid over everything that happened in his life.

Harry nodded. "Thank you."

"I'll leave you with Miss Lovegood then, if you don't mind." Dumbledore said, turning towards his colleague. "Minerva, we need to talk about the budgeting."

Following this abrupt goodbye the two professors went away and left Harry and Luna alone in their corner of the hospital wing. Harry was grateful though. He didn't have the patience for another row with Dumbledore right now. Meanwhile the school nurse had gone to one of her cupboards and grabbed a potion flask.

"Miss Lovegood, you have missed your sleep tonight," the matron decided. "Lie down on this bed over there and take this potion."

Luna shook her head. "The Sandman and his Morpheus Bugs can wait a few minutes, I think." She ignored the school nurse and went over to Harry. "Thank you for your present," she said and gave Harry a deep kiss on his mouth.

"Um... yes," Harry stuttered. He still wasn't used to how direct Luna managed to be. "I'm glad you liked it. Yours were awesome too," Harry added, remembering her awesome Christmas gifts.

"Mom made those..." Luna explained, her smile was faltering. "...before she had her '_spell-accident'_."

"Your mum was a potions master?" Harry inquired.

"Miss Lovegood is tired," Madam Pomfrey said at the same time. "Harry, she needs to sleep."

Meanwhile Luna nodded as an acknowledgment to Harry's question. "Yes… we can't sell them… no '_license_', you know?"

Indeed. Luna's family had been really screwed over by the current political system of the Wizarding world, but Harry didn't really know what to do about it. First grow the Swarm, then kill Voldemort and then solve all the other problems. At least that was Harry's current plan. He might be able to use his influence with Scrimgeour though.

"Enough," the school nurse decided. "You can talk later. Go to bed now."

XXXHPASXXX

After forcing Luna to take a dreamless sleep potion, Madam Pomfrey released Harry. In theory he was to go to Professor McGonagall's office, but Harry decided to use the time otherwise. He'd let the Swarm work more or less alone for over a month and decided it was time to check what they'd done. The day was rather calm so Harry grabbed his Firebolt from the dormitory and quickly left the school.

Instead of walking an hour, Harry reached the Swarm within five minutes. He couldn't see it from the castle, but when he flew over the forest, he suddenly found himself in a zone with a sweet smell. Maybe that was what had alarted the centaurs, Harry realized. It was really hard to miss. He'd looked so much for visual camouflage that he'd totally forgotten his olfactory sense. Well that was something to remember for the future.

Meanwhile the hive looked exactly like he knew it from his mental map. In the center of the area was the hatchery. It had grown a little since the last time he'd seen it, probably to produce more Larvae as he'd commanded. The corner bones had grown larger, they almost looked like teeth. Meanwhile the main body had gained size, looking even more like a fleshy pyramid than before.

Right next to it was a new sight. A large pool filled with a greenish-yellow liquid was bordered by a fleshy wall. A drone emerged from it, shaking off the liquid of its birth. It was the spawning pool. Harry could feel the cocoons submerged in the liquid. It accelerated the evolution without really taking many additional resources. He got a certain feeling of danger from it though. It probably wouldn't be wise to take a bath in it. Maybe he should warn Ron. His best friend could be rather stupid once in awhile.

Evolution Chambers were dotting the area around the pool. They looked like fleshy, tentacled lungs under an all too visible rib cage. The tentacles or maybe veins were connected to the spawning pool, pumping the strange liquid into their interior. Next to the three old, already working chambers were large placental-looking zerg in the state of metamorphosis. Veins connected them to the spawning pool as well as the enlarged hatchery. A quick connection to the Hivemind told the young Overmind that those were the three new ones he'd ordered.

{Hivemind, what can I do to add to the swarm?} Harry inquired, barely able to suppress a yawn. Yesterday's fight and the argument with Dumbledore had left him mentally tired. Or maybe it just was an aftereffect of Pomfrey's potion.

{The swarm has developed a new form,} the Hivemind reminded. {The tube worm.}

The solution for his stealth problems... and maybe his water problems, Harry remembered. {Where is it?}

Suddenly Harry felt a draw in his mind and he swooped downwards on his broom. A Zergmantula waved its legs at him as he passed the hatchery. Merlin, they were large, Harry thought as he touched down right next to the fleshy cocoon of a growing evolution chamber.

The tubeworm crept out of the sphincter-like opening. Standing right in front of him, it was maybe as long as Hagrid was tall, but it only had the diameter of a medium sized beer barrel. It looked like a mixture between an oversized earthworm and the general alien look of the zerg. If he hadn't felt it in his connection to the swarm Harry knew he'd be scared. The teeth looked really dangerous.

*shiiiik* the worm cooed at Harry. It was obvious it recognized its Overmind.

{So how does it work?} Harry asked the Hivemind.

{The tubeworm can create a tunnel system in its size. It is eating earth and stone with its mouth and processes them. The creep ejected at its end transports the discharge out of the tunnel and stabilizes the walls. Bigger models eject a special creep.}

{Okay that's great,} Harry replied. {We still need a bigger worm if we want to connect to the outside of the wards. What can we use this small thing for? I guess it's a prototype, but right now it's rather useless.}

*tschoub* the tubeworm replied. It almost sounded as if it was crying.

{The Overmind... you should consider upgrading his mental faculties,} Harry's favourite Overlord Adalbert chimed in. {We can use it to get rid of the snow cover.}

{What do you mean?} Harry mentally asked. {Some kind of sewer?}

Harry got a mental nod from his Overlord. {This was the general idea, but there is some danger of detection if we direct the meltwater into the lake.}

It was winter, it wasn't like people were walking around the lake regularly.

{Sure, start with it,} Harry ordered. {Only make sure that it's night and nobody is around when the tubeworm hits the surface outside of the hive.}

Apparently that was enough. The tubeworm crouched down and began to eat the creep and the earth below. It was spewing compressed stools out of its rear end. Harry was glad that he wasn't standing behind it. Worm poo wasn't something he wanted to get in his face.

{Can you make a bigger one?} Harry asked the Hivemind as he launched himself back into the air. {Or make one that can create an underground hive?} The swarm really was just too easily detectable from the air. {And we should also expand... first the incident with Luna, then the centaurs... and Dumbeldore's suspicious too.} Harry had made his decision. {Expand deeper into the forest and have the zergmantula weave protection spells around our new territories.}

{Finally!} was the overwhelming response from the swarm. They'd waited for so long, but now it was time.

There was one thing though... {Um... Hivemind,} Harry began, {say, what happened to the centaurs we captured?}

XXXHPASXXX

**Authors Note:**** Sorry for the delay everyone. I was kinda busy with school, my muse was on strike and my editor was ill… I've got the next chapter already written, I'd prefer to be two in advance though, so I can check for mistakes or problems. I'd rather not have continuity problems because I wrote the last chapter too long ago.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this one. Thank you for reading and reviewing.**


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